It was only a couple days ago where we talked about Carlos Quentin's hitting and baserunning. Well, he's given us a reason to talk about it again.
Quentin delivered the game-winning single in the bottom off the eighth, then scored an insurance run thanks to being aware on the basepaths. As a result, the Sox have now won eight straight.
The Sox had a tough time against Aaron Laffey because Laffey is two things the Sox can't hit: 1) a lefty, and 2) a control pitcher. They got one on the board in the first, and Laffey kept them quiet until Toby Hall knocked him out of the game with a single through the right side leading off the eighth. The single was Hall's third of the game, and Brian Anderson came in to pinch-run.
In came Masa Kobayashi, and the Sox got their revenge against the Cleveland bullpen once again. Not Orlando Cabrera, though. He failed miserably trying to get him over -- two awful bunt attempts and a strikeout on a low and outside slider. A.J. Pierzynski, pinch-hitting for Alexei Ramirez, flew out to the warning track in center, but Anderson tagged and got to second.
Up came the hero of the first two months, Quentin. He grounded a single through the left side, and then advanced to second on David Dellucci's throw home, which wasn't close to getting Anderson. Jermaine Dye followed with a single that scored Quentin, and the Sox led 3-1. Bobby Jenks retired the Indians 1-2-3 in the ninth, and that was the ballgame.
Scott Linebrink earned his first win in a White Sox uniform, and he deserved it as much as a guy pitching one inning in a pitchers' duel could. He also breezed through a three-up, three-down inning in relief of Mark Buehrle, who lost the strike zone at times but compensated by limiting hits.
Buehrle, who entered the game allowing nearly 12 hits per nine innings, allowed only two through seven. One of them was a Grady Sizemore double in the third inning that drove in the Tribe's only run. Buehrle made the mistake of walking the Indians' eighth and ninth hitters, and Sizemore made him pay with a double off the wall in left.
The defense had his back, though. With one out and runners on second and third, Cabrera gloved a rocket off the bat of Ben Francisco and Dye caught a Travis Hafner liner to keep the game tied at 1.
Buehrle walked two more -- leadoff walks, to boot -- but double plays erased them in the fifth and seventh inning. The only error came on what should've been a strike-him-out-throw-him-out. Buehrle struck out Hafner, and Hall's throw beat Francisco to second in plenty of time, but Cabrera failed to catch it and gave the Indians another life. Buehrle pitched around it, though Kelly Shoppach provided a scare by flying out to the track in right-center.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the win because the Sox could only muster a run while he was in the game. That came in the first, when Cabrera singled, moved to third on a Ramirez double and scored on a Quentin groundout. Dye and Thome struck out to strand Ramirez at second.
The Sox would only have two other runners reach scoring position off Laffey. Singles by Nick Swisher and Hall put runners on first and second with two outs in the fifth, but Cabrera grounded out to second. One inning later, Quentin singled. Dye struck out on an awful call -- he clearly checked up, but the ball got away and the ump ruled that he swung -- but on the play, Quentin advanced to second. Shoppach's throw hit Quentin, and he moved into third. He was stranded there when Thome struck out for the third time.
Record: 26-20 |
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