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Late offense pushes Rays past White Sox

Aug 23, 2008 - 5:04 AM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Tampa Bay Rays righthander Edwin Jackson looked like a man walking through a minefield for much of Friday.

Despite issuing five walks and seven hits in six innings, Jackson help the Rays emerge with a 9-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

"It's a team full of mashers, a team full of dudes who can hit," Jackson said about the White Sox. "Five walks, and to only give up two runs ... it's just going out there and leaving it on the field."

The Rays had their own mashers, getting home runs from Carlos Pena, Rocco Baldelli and Ben Zobrist.

Jackson (10-8) also received help from his bullpen in the form of two key strikeouts by Grant Balfour.

Yet it was Jackson's ability to dodge disaster after Chicago took a 2-0 lead on Nick Swisher's fourth home run in four games that impressed manager Joe Maddon most.

"We just can't do that, obviously, especially against this team," Maddon said. "One thing I talked about before the game was we can't do two things: walk people and commit errors because of their propensity to hit home runs.

"But we got away with it tonight. But you can't expect to do that all the time. We just were fortunate. Our pitchers battled with a lot of intensity and a lot of passion."

Chicago put the leadoff batter on in each of the first five innings. A pair of double plays and a fourth inning that saw two White Sox runners caught stealing helped Jackson get through six innings in a 2-2 game.

"The difference between (Jackson) last year and this year is his ability not to turn those things into big innings," Maddon said. "That's why he's been able to get this many wins."

Jackson thinks good fortune had a role.

"It's a crazy game," Jackson said. "Sometimes you just don't have answers, other times you just take it as is.

"Last year, I let it get to me. Now it's that time of the year. We've worked so hard, you just have to say (forget) it, let's go for it."

Pena's leadoff home run to right center in the sixth, his 26th, had tied the score at 2-2. The Rays went ahead for good in the seventh against Chicago starter John Danks (10-6) when Dioner Navarro hit a leadoff double and came home on a one-out double by Jason Bartlett.

The bullpen helped out Jackson in the seventh. Protecting a 3-2 lead, Balfour came on to strike out American League home run leader Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye.

White Sox reliever Octavio Dotel was then victimized for Baldelli's first home run since May 3, 2007, to lead off the eighth. Willy Aybar followed with a double and Zobrist drilled a two-run homer to right-center for a 6-2 Tampa Bay lead.

Baldelli had been on the disabled list for most of the season with a medical condition that slows muscle recovery and causes fatigue.

"I had a smile on my face," Baldelli said. "I don't smile too much on the baseball field. I don't know why. Maybe I should smile more.

"But I had a long smile on my face. It was a long time between hitting homers for me and obviously a very good feeling."

Chicago's fans weren't smiling about Dotel, who has a knack for strikeouts or giving up the long ball. They pelted him with boos when manager Ozzie Guillen pulled him.

"He's been pitching good for us, he had a couple bad outings," Guillen said. "That's the way it is. They swung the bats well. He made a couple mistakes and they hit a couple home runs.

"Octavio is a power pitcher. When they hit it they're going to hit it hard."

Tampa Bay kept the pressure on Chicago 's bullpen in the ninth with three runs off Horacio Ramirez, including an RBI double by Pena and an RBI single by Zobrist.