Final
Wise's pinch-hit grand slam caps wild win for White Sox
Sep 15, 2008 - 5:07 AM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing WriterCHICAGO (Ticker) - Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he likes Dewayne Wise because of his speed, but the reserve outfielder's power on Sunday saved his team from an embarrassing situation.
Wise's pinch-hit, eighth-inning grand slam off Kyle Farnsworth let the Chicago White Sox escape with an 11-7 victory and doubleheader sweep of the Detroit Tigers.
The blast was the 30-year-old's first since rejoining the team on September 5 and the first grand slam of his career.
"It couldn't have come at a better time," Wise said. "When you're coming off the bench to pinch hit, you're looking for a fastball. I missed the first one; I was kind of surprised he came back with another one and I just was able to hit it out of the ballpark."
Even though speed has been his calling card, Guillen has been pleased with Wise's all-around ability.
"I love speed; if you can run, you can play for me," Guillen said. "This guy gets good at-bats. He's played good for us since we called him up.
"At one point, we were afraid to lose him, when we sent him back to the minor leagues. It's a good thing we kept him. It seems like every time he goes to the plate, he hits the ball hard."
It was their first twinbill sweep since July 24, 2007 against Detroit. The victories let the White Sox (83-65) take a 1 1/2-game lead in the American League Central over the Minnesota Twins (82-67), who lost Sunday 7-3 to the Baltimore Orioles.
The White Sox built a 7-0 lead behind home runs by Jim Thome and Brian Anderson, but the Tigers stormed back with a two-run homer by Mike Hessman in the seventh inning, a solo blast leading off the eighth inning by Curtis Granderson and a grand slam in the eighth by Marcus Thames.
But the major's leading homer-hitting team was not about to go down as the White Sox put three runners on base against Bobby Seay (1-2) as the reliever gave up a single to Jerry Owens and intentionally walked Nick Swisher after Juan Uribe's sacrifice bunt.
Farnsworth came on in relief and surrendered Orlando Cabrera's bad-hop single off Hessman at third to load the bases before Wise launched a two-out shot to right, giving Chicago its major league-best 10th grand slam of the season.
The grand slam made a winner of reliever Matt Thornton (5-3), who pitched 1 2/3 flawless innings to preserve the victory.
Thames lamented his team's misfortune with the bad hop on Cabrera's two-out hit to Hessman just before the grand slam.
"Hess caught a bad hop, you can't do anything about that," Thames said. "We just didn't quit. It's been a long day or whatever, but we're professionals."
Detroit's rally had come entirely against Chicago's bullpen as starter John Danks, who had lost three of his previous four starts, threw six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and walking one with six strikeouts.
The Tigers comeback also came after closer Bobby Jenks had given up a two-run home run in the first game of the doubleheader. As a result, the White Sox have a 5.50 earned run average over their last 55 games.
"If we get where we want to get, our bullpen has to get better," Guillen said. "Our bullpen has been struggling for the past couple of weeks and if we don't get better, believe me, we're going to be watching TV (in the playoffs).
"We're not going to have a day off in a little while and the bullpen has got to step it up a notch."
After driving in the game's first run in the opening frame, Thome's 539th career home run and 32nd blast of the campaign came leading off the fourth inning for a 2-0 lead.
The White Sox drove Detroit starter Kenny Rogers from the game in the fifth with five more runs. Anderson belted a 415-foot home run to center field after Orlando Cabrera singled with one out before Thome drew a walk and Alexei Ramirez singled.
Ken Griffey Jr. then lined his 500th career double off the wall in right center field to score two more runs for a six-run lead and drive Rogers from the game. Juan Uribe completed the scoring outburst when he singled home Griffey off Chris Lambert.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DETROIT 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 7 10 0
CHI WHITE SOX 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 4 x 11 12 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: DET - KENNY ROGERS, CHRIS LAMBERT (5TH), FREDDY DOLSI (7TH), BOBBY
SEAY (8TH), KYLE FARNSWORTH (8TH) AND DUSTY RYAN
CHA - JOHN DANKS, SCOTT LINEBRINK (7TH), BOONE L
Sep 14 11:25 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
GRAND SLAM BY DEWAYNE WISE (3) TO RIGHT WITH 2 OUT IN THE
8TH OFF KYLE FARNSWORTH SCORED JERRY OWENS, NICK SWISHER AND ORLANDO
CABRERA.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 7, CHI WHITE SOX 11
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J DYE (.295, 1-FOR-4)
Tigers 7, White Sox 11 Bot 8, 0 OutsSep 14 11:16 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
GRAND SLAM BY MARCUS THAMES (25) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 1 OUT
IN THE 8TH OFF OCTAVIO DOTEL SCORED PLACIDO POLANCO, MAGGLIO ORDONEZ
AND MIGUEL CABRERA.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 7, CHI WHITE SOX 7
DUE UP FOR DETROIT: R SANTIAGO (.299, 0-FOR-1)
Tigers 7, White Sox 7 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 14 10:56 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
SOLO HOME RUN BY CURTIS GRANDERSON (19) TO RIGHT CENTER
WITH 0 OUT IN THE 8TH OFF BOONE LOGAN.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 3, CHI WHITE SOX 7
DUE UP FOR DETROIT: P POLANCO (.306, 0-FOR-3)
Tigers 3, White Sox 7 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 14 10:41 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY MIKE HESSMAN (3) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 7TH OFF SCOTT LINEBRINK SCORED RAMON SANTIAGO.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 2, CHI WHITE SOX 7
DUE UP FOR DETROIT: D RYAN (.300, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Tigers 2, White Sox 7 Top 7, 0 OutsSep 14 10:26 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
SINGLE BY JUAN URIBE SCORED KEN GRIFFEY JR.
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, J URIBE ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0
CHI WHITE SOX 7 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: N SWISHER (.222, 0-FOR-2)
Tigers 0, White Sox 7 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 14 10:03 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
DOUBLE BY KEN GRIFFEY JR SCORED JIM THOME AND ALEXEI
RAMIREZ.
SITUATION: 4 RUNS IN, K GRIFFEY JR ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0
CHI WHITE SOX 6 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J URIBE (.246, 0-FOR-2)
Tigers 0, White Sox 6 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 14 9:58 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY BRIAN ANDERSON (8) TO CENTER WITH 1 OUT
IN THE 5TH OFF KENNY ROGERS SCORED ORLANDO CABRERA.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0, CHI WHITE SOX 4
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: J DYE (.296, 1-FOR-2)
Tigers 0, White Sox 4 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 14 9:52 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
SOLO HOME RUN BY JIM THOME (32) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 4TH OFF KENNY ROGERS.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0, CHI WHITE SOX 2
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A RAMIREZ (.299, 0-FOR-1)
Tigers 0, White Sox 2 Bot 4, 0 OutsSep 14 9:23 PM - AL
AT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATE (2ND GAME)
SINGLE BY JIM THOME SCORED ORLANDO CABRERA.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J THOME ON FIRST, J DYE ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0
CHI WHITE SOX 1 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A RAMIREZ (.300, 17 HR, 65 RBI)
Tigers 0, White Sox 1 Bot 1, 0 OutsSep 14 8:25 PM
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