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Wise's pinch-hit grand slam caps wild win for White Sox

Sep 15, 2008 - 5:07 AM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (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.