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Quentin, White Sox rally past Royals

Jul 10, 2008 - 5:09 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- After accounting for four runs with his bat, Carlos Quentin scored the most important run for the Chicago White Sox without a bat even being swung.

Quentin hit a pair of two-run homers and scored the go-ahead run on a balk in the eighth inning as the White Sox rallied for a 7-6 triumph over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

After falling behind, 6-2, through four innings, the White Sox scored five unanswered runs, including one in unlikely fashion.

Quentin, who got Chicago on the scoreboard with a two-run blast in the fourth, added another two-run shot in the sixth to draw the White Sox within 6-4. The sixth-inning blast, his 21st of the season, capped the All-Star's third multi-homer game of the season.

In his previous eight games, Quentin had just four hits in 34 at-bats.

"I'm not going to use the word 'struggle,'" he said. "I've had some good swings and gotten some good results, and I've had some at-bats where I didn't have good swings and I didn't get good results. I'm just trying to have quality at-bats.

"(Royals starter Brian Bannister) was keeping the ball down and he was locating his pitches. He was very effective, but we got a few hits and we were able to capitalize."

Bannister surrendered both of Quentin's home runs.

"Quentin's is as small a strike zone as there is the way he squats down," Bannister said. "I would have hit the (catcher's) glove twice if the ball had gotten there. Unfortunately, the second one landed on top of the wall. He just took advantage of those pitches. He had a big impact for them because they didn't get a lot of hits tonight."

After Alexei Ramirez's RBI double in the seventh cut the deficit to one, the White Sox completed the comeback with two runs in the eighth.

With one out and a runner on second, Quentin walked. Ramon Ramirez relieved Robinson Tejeda (0-2) and struck out Jermaine Dye before Jim Thome singled to plate Orlando Cabrera with the tying run.

As Paul Konerko stood in the batter's box, Ramon Ramirez was called for a balk by plate umpire Dan Iassogna, allowing Quentin to trot home from third and give Chicago a 7-6 advantage.

"He balked," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman admitted. "He started and stopped. It was accurately called. I called out to (catcher John) Buck and asked if they called timeout. That's what I was hopeful was happening, but that wasn't what happened."

"We're finding ways to win," Dye said. "We're swinging the bats pretty good and finding ways to come back. We're doing it all as a whole."

The rally made a winner of Adam Russell (3-0), who recorded the final out of the seventh inning. Matt Thornton worked a scoreless eighth and Octavio Dotel struck out the side in the ninth for his first save of the season.

A former Royal, Dotel received the save opportunity normally reserved for Bobby Jenks, who was placed on the disabled list earlier in the day with bursitis in his left shoulder.

"That is a big loss for us," Dotel said of Jenks' absence. "We've got to step up for him. We've got a good bullpen. They knew how to do the work when he was here, and even though we have less guys to do the job, we know how to do the work without him. We were pitching the seventh and eighth. Now we have to be ready for the eighth and ninth."

"With Bobby out, everybody has to step up and be ready to go, whether it's closer by committee or just one guy," Thornton added. "Everybody did their jobs tonight. They were throwing strikes, and that kept us in it."

It was the fourth straight win overall by Chicago and seventh in a row over Kansas City. The White Sox improved to 26-11 against American League Central Division opponents this year.

"They've beaten us five times (this year) now and they're going to keep trying to come back until we beat them," Bannister said. "We need to break their confidence a little bit. There were some weird circumstances in the eighth inning. I thought we had them. We need to get one (win) out of the way because we're going to play them a lot more times."

The Royals, who have lost five of six, hammered White Sox starter Javier Vazquez for six runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. The 31-year-old righthander issued one walk while striking out three.

"It was a tough outing," Vazquez said. "But we've got great hitters here. Regardless of what the starting pitcher does, we still have a pretty good chance to win. We're swinging the bats good and our bullpen has been terrific all year."

Bannister tossed 6 2/3 frames for Kansas City, surrendering five runs, four hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

"It was just a frustrating outing," Bannister said. "I thought I pitched really well, but they got a couple of big hits, and that was the difference in the game. Even though we didn't win tonight, I'm encouraged by some of the things that have been going on out there."

The Royals scored in each of the first four innings to build their lead. Ross Gload delivered a two-run single in the third and Buck, who lifted a sacrifice fly in the second, launched a solo homer in the fourth.