Two days after ranting about his offense, Ozzie Guillen made only few minor lineup changes. The biggest one: getting Carlos Quentin back into the lineup.
After his first day off since joining the starting lineup three games into the season, a refreshed Quentin sent one barely over the fence, and barely inside the right-field foul pole for a quick 2-0 lead on Zack Greinke.
Plenty of homers followed, and it helped Gavin Floyd earn his sixth win, even though he finally experienced awful defense for a change.
To be fair, some bad Royals defense helped the Sox to jump ahead 6-0. Alexei Ramirez should've grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Tony Pena made the mistake of putting his foot in front of his glove. The ball ramped up it and into center field, and the Sox had runners on second and third after Ramirez's "double." Orlando Cabrera bounced a single over the mound and though a drawn-in infield for a 4-0 lead.
A.J. Pierzynski hit the Sox's second homer to make it 6-0, and it would come in handy, because the Sox's gloves wouldn't. Floyd pitched around a Joe Crede non-error error in the first, but Ramirez booted a grounder to lead off the top of the third, and a single that barely escaped the infield put runners on second and third. A solid David DeJesus single put the first K.C. run on the board, but instead of an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, Orlando Cabrera couldn't get the ball out of his glove, putting runners on the corners.
Another weakly hit ground ball later, a run crossed the board on a 4-3-6 double play, as Mark Grudzielanek evaded Ramirez long enough for the Royals to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
The Sox would get those two runs back on a first-pitch homer by Nick Swisher and another solo shot by Ramirez, and the Royals got those back on a two-run homer by Mark Teahen, the only two earned runs Floyd allowed.
Error aside, Ramirez had himself a fine game. Along with the "double" and solo homer, Ramirez came through with a runner in scoring position after an eight-pitch at-bat -- though it seemed longer than that since he fell behind 0-2 and swung at the first five pitches. He shot the final pitch -- a fastball -- through the left side to make it a 9-5 game.
It wasn't all sunshine -- a bloop single by Jermaine Dye kept the 4-5-6 from going hitless -- Paul Konerko went 0-for-3 with a walk, and Jim Thome had another rough night, going 0-for-4.
Record: 31-26 |
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