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Homers earn White Sox sweep of Devil Rays

Jun 29, 2007 - 3:08 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays lefthander Scott Kazmir remained winless at home and the Chicago White Sox continued to roll on the road.

Paul Konerko homered twice and Tadahito Iguchi added a solo shot as the White Sox defeated the Devil Rays, 5-1, on Thursday to complete a four-game sweep.

The White Sox have won four consecutive road games for the first time since a six-game streak from June 15-28, 2006.

Konerko's multi-homer game was the 21st in his career and the second this season.

"Paul's been swinging the bat good the last month," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He can carry the ballclub."

Kazmir (5-4) struck out nine but left after 5 1/3 innings. He allowed four earned runs in remaining winless at home this year.

The 23-year-old lefthander, who owns the American League's best home ERA over the past two seasons, has not won at Tropicana Field since July 3, 2006 - a span of 14 starts.

"I felt like I was attacking the strike zone," Kazmir said. "It's just really frustrating. You just have to keep battling. It seems like everything is going good and I get in situations where I overthrow it."

Javier Vazquez (4-5) won for the first time in five starts, scattering seven hits in seven innings. For the 11th time in 15 starts this season, Vazquez left with the White Sox tied or leading, but this time Chicago held on.

Vazquez struck out 10, marking the 30th time in his career he has reached the plateau.

"I got in some trouble but threw pitches when I had to," Vazquez said. "This was a great four games. Hopefully, it's a start for us."

As in their previous three victories at Tampa Bay, the White Sox struck out at least 10 times. This time, they failed to put the ball in play 13 times, giving them 49 strikeouts in the four-game series.

"Right now, we can get away with that the way we're pitching," Guillen said. "I don't care how many times we strike out, it's how many wins we have. I don't know how long we can keep it up, though."

In the sixth inning, after Chicago's 10th strikeout, Guillen waved an empty pizza box toward the press box, signifying Tampa Bay's promotion that gives fans a free pizza after 10 strikeouts for the opposition.

On Friday, the White Sox visit the Kansas City Royals - who give free donuts when the opposition has 12 strikeouts - for the first of a three-game series.

"We just went from pizza to donuts," Guillen said. "I don't know which one is worse for your health."

In the past seven games, the White Sox have struck out 79 times.

In the second inning, Konerko's solo homer and Josh Fields' RBI single put the White Sox ahead, 2-0. Iguchi's blast in the fourth extended the lead to 3-0.

Luis Terrero's RBI single in the sixth and Konerko's seventh-inning home run closed the scoring for the White Sox, who recorded their first four-game sweep since July 29-August 1, 2005 at Baltimore.

"We were due some wins," Konerko said. "There was no evidence (entering the series) we would sweep anybody. We struck out a lot, but at the same time, we're swinging aggressively."

Delmon Young extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games for the Devil Rays, who fell a season-worst 11 games under .500.

"Solo home runs, that happens and I'm OK with that, really," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "The home runs beat us a bit over this series. It's not like they've been pummeling us. We just haven't been able to score runs."