2008 State of the Sox

June 18: White Sox 8, Pirates 2

Recap in brief:

*Toby Hall -- Toby Hall! -- hit his first homer in a Sox uniform, a line drive that barely cleared the left field wall to give the Sox a 2-0 lead.

*Carlos Quentin and Brian Anderson added solo homers in the same direction, and all of them came off Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny.  Quentin snapped a 1-for-16 slump.

*Mark Buehrle pitched eight innings for the third consecutive start, taking a no-hitter into the sixth before Jose Bautista homered.  The other run came on a walk and a couple of weak singles.

*Jim Thome scored Orlando Cabrera with a bloop single to left, and Cabrera either lucked out or showed tremendous skill by taking off earlier than most baserunners would have, crossing the plate by sliding hard into Raul Chavez.

*Thome himself scored from first -- in somewhat easier fashion, though he had to slide -- on Nick Swisher's double to the left-center gap.

Record: 40-31 | Box score | Play-by-play