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Swisher hits walk-off homer, White Sox win in 14th

Aug 6, 2008 - 6:28 AM By Rory Spears PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Nick Swisher hit a walk-off, three-run home run in the 14th inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 10-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.

Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez all homered for the White Sox, who overcame a five-run deficit and handed the Tigers their fifth straight loss.

With two outs and two runners on, Swisher sent a 2-1 offering from Joel Zumaya over the center-field wall for his 16th homer.

"I didn't even expect to play tonight," Swisher said. "Obviously, it was a game where we just battled, clawed, scratched and fought. We were the never-say-die White Sox tonight."

The win, coupled with the Minnesota Twins (62-51) falling to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, lifted Chicago (62-49) into sole possession of first place in the American League Central.

"This is a big win, one of those types you look back on that are special," Konerko said. "We just continue to fight, it was a total team effort."

Placido Polanco delivered a go-ahead, two-run home run in the top of the decisive frame to give Detroit an 8-6 edge. It was the second blast of the contest for Polanco, who also opened the scoring with a two-run shot in the first.

"This is a tough game to let get away," Polanco said. "When you get down to the last three outs and don't win, it's a tough loss what can you do."

The Tigers added four runs in the fifth, building their lead to 6-1 on Curtis Granderson's 13th home run - a two-run shot that scored Edgar Renteria, who led off the inning with a double. Carlos Guillen and Ryan Raburn, who collected four hits, each had RBI singles in the frame.

The White Sox began their comeback in their half Carlos Quentin singled home Orlando Cabrera. Konerko hit his 11th home run in the sixth, a two-run shot that trimmed the deficit to 6-4. Konerko has 12 RBI in his last six games against Detroit.

"Our pitching is why we are where we are at," Konerko said. "The pitching has won us more games than the hitting, we can't forget that. At the plate, I had a good night. I saw the ball well."

Quentin then pulled Chicago to within one at 6-5 when he hit his 29th home run, a shot that barely cleared both the left-field wall and the glove of a leaping Raburn.

With two outs in the eighth inning, Tigers manager Jim Leyland brought in Kyle Farnsworth to face Ramirez. Three pitches later, Ramirez hit his 10th home run into the White Sox' left-field bullpen to tie the game at 6-6.

"Of course this is a tough loss," Leyland said. "It shows you that you have to get all 27 outs or whatever, I think people are finding out that Todd Jones' job isn't so easy after all."