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Quentin, Dye homer as White Sox edge Tigers

Jul 27, 2008 - 4:10 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- As they have all season, Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye carried the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

Quentin and Dye each homered and A.J. Pierzynski had two hits and an RBI to lead the White Sox past the Detroit Tigers, 7-6, on Saturday.

Nick Swisher and Jim Thome each added an RBI for Chicago (59-43), which has won four in a row and owns a 3 1/2-game lead over the Minnesota Twins (56-47) in the American League Central along with a comfortable 6 1/2-game bulge over Detroit (52-51).

"You never know," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of the division race. "You have two months to go. I still believe these guys have enough to compete. Especially in this division."

After Gary Sheffield gave the Tigers an early lead with a solo homer in the second, the White Sox roared back with four runs in the third. Pierzynski started the rally with an RBI single and Quentin followed with his American League-leading 27th blast of the season to deep left field.

Dye made it back-to-back shots with his 23rd of the year, giving Chicago a 4-1 advantage.

"We had good at-bats," Dye said. "Got (Tigers starter Justin Verlander's) pitch count up pretty early."

Quentin and Dye are the two most productive offensive teammates in the AL, combining for 50 homers and 141 RBI. Thome's 19 blasts give the White Sox the top three teammates in the AL as well, trailing only the Philadelphia Phillies' trio of Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Chase Utley.

Dye added an RBI single in a three-run fifth inning that chased Verlander (8-10) and gave lefthander John Danks (8-4) just enough room to capture his eighth win.

"Felt good," Danks said. "Felt I had good stuff. Aside from a few pitches here or there, I thought I made good pitches."

Danks allowed five runs - four earned - and seven hits in six frames while striking out five without a walk. He has not lost since May 24.

"You really can't shoot yourself in the foot against these guys," Danks said. "I just tried to make them put the ball in play."

The setback for Verlander was his first since June 6 and snapped a string of eight straight starts in which he allowed two runs or less.

"I could see from the first inning that he was all pumped up and I didn't like it," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of Verlander. "He was way out of sync. He was rushing and over throwing."

"My arm felt fine, but I was just all over the place," Verlander said. "I was rushing my pitches and was just out of whack. It was very bad. Even when I tried to slow down, I felt worse."

Three relievers bridged the gap to closer Bobby Jenks, who worked around a two-out double in the ninth to record his 21st save in 24 opportunities this season.

"He's young but he's a vet," Leyland said of Jenks. "He has a presence out there on the mound. He just knows how to throw every pitch."