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White Sox escape early hole, pound Pirates

Jun 19, 2008 - 11:09 PM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- When the Pittsburgh Pirates scored six unearned runs in the second inning Thursday, the Chicago White Sox barely batted an eyelash.

Instead, the White Sox kept hitting the way they had in the first two games of the series and wiped out the six-run deficit in the next turn at-bat before emerging with a 13-8 victory behind a grand slam and six RBI from Jermaine Dye.

"I think when we're swinging the bats good, no lead is safe," said Dye, who homered twice and also drove in a run with a double. "What happened that inning was one error cost us six runs. We knew we still had to go out there and battle.

"It was still early in the game. You score a couple runs here and there and you're still in it."

A two-out, second-inning throwing error by third baseman Pablo Ozuna allowed the game's first run to score and opened the way for Nate McLouth's three-run double and Freddy Sanchez's two-run homer that gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead.

But the lead did not last long.

Orlando Cabrera's three-run homer capped off a six-run second inning for the White Sox that started with back-to-back doubles by Jim Thome and Dye. RBI singles by Alexei Ramirez and Ozuna contributed to tying the score, and Chicago went on to tag nine earned runs and 11 hits on Pirates starter Phillip Dumatrait (3-4).

The six-run second matched the season high for an inning by the White Sox, and the 6-0 deficit was the largest they've overcome this year.

"Everything started when Jim Thome hit the double," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "A little bit in the dugout, it changed the momentum when Thome started with a double as the first hitter."

Guillen stuck with the starter Gavin Floyd (8-3) after the six-run second. The 25-year-old righthander allowed only two more hits afterwards, including Sanchez's fourth-inning RBI single, which had tied the game at 7-7.

"All the sudden they got six runs on the board and we didn't even know about it," Guillen said. "I told Gavin to just keep in there and we will come back - and thank God we did."

Floyd struck out six, walked two and gave up six hits as he improved to 4-0 with a 3.66 ERA in his last five starts.

"You just try to keep the team in the game, keep the damage to a minimum when something like that (six unearned runs) happens," Floyd said.

With the score tied at 7-7, Thome then gave the White Sox the lead for good with a fifth-inning RBI single off Dumatrait and Chicago went up 9-7 in the sixth when Ramirez scored on Cabrera's sacrifice fly to center.

Dye's seventh-inning grand slam followed a single by A.J. Pierzynski, who has a 13-game hitting streak, and walks to Carlos Quentin and Thome. It was Dye's seventh career grand slam and first since August 30, 2005 against the Texas Rangers. The blast to left on a 2-0 pitch gave Chicago a 13-7 lead.

"Today I was fortunate to get a couple pitches and get in a good hitter's count and was able to drive the ball and come up with some good hits," Dye said. "It was probably one of my better days."

Chicago's win at home was the 12th in its last 14 games and the White Sox swept the series while outscoring Pittsburgh, 37-15.

"They're obviously swinging the bats very well," Pirates manager John Russell said. "Hitting home runs, finding holes, bloop hits, line drives - they all seem to be clicking together. There's not much else you can say.

"They scored a ton of runs against us and you're not going to win many games when you give up that many runs."

Seven different White Sox combined for 10 home runs in the three-game series. Their offense exploded without injured first baseman Paul Konerko, who went on the disabled list at the start of the series due to a rib injury.

"We had to pick things up with Paulie gone and we have guys who can do the job," Guillen said. "We never make excuses. I know Paulie is going crazy right now but the game is about unity and picking each other up and we are doing that right now."

The AL Central-leading White Sox couldn't have picked a better time to start the hitting binge considering they open a three-game crosstown series at Wrigley Field on Friday against the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs.

"It's going to be a battle tomorrow," White Sox outfielder Nick Swisher said. "The place is going to be electric. We're ready for it."