Carlos Quentin evened a couple things out for the Sox Thursday afternoon. His three-run homer capped off a comeback from a four-run deficit to ensure a split homestand, and also gave Ozzie Guillen the last laugh in his war of words with C.J. Wilson.
Wilson, who drew Guillen's with his post-strikeout celebration during the series in Arlington, came in the ballgame to face Quentin in an 8-7 game with two on and two out. Carlos cleared the bases with his second homer off the game, and Bobby Jenks pitched around a leadoff walk to Josh Hamilton for his 19th save.
Unfortunately, Ozize wasn't around to enjoy the revenge. He was tossed by home plate umpire Rob Drake in the seventh after arguing balls and strikes after Nick Swisher got a second pitch well off the outside corner called against him.
Quentin's first homer of the game was a first-pitch shot off Warner Madrigal in the fifth that bounced off the top of the wall, which got a run back in the fifth. However, Boone Logan's continued struggles appeared to have put the game out of reach when he allowed a two-run single, one batter after
Alexei Ramirez made a fantastic flip with his glove to Paul Konerko's bare hand on a slow roller, to make it an 8-4 game. But the Sox stormed back.
Jermaine Dye made it an 8-5 game with a two-out RBI double in the seventh to drive in Orlando Cabrera, one batter after Quentin grounded into a double play. One inning later, Konerko would start it off with a double off Eddie Guardado. Ramirez ripped a liner to left to make it 8-6, and the rally would restart after Toby Hall popped out.
Juan Uribe singled through the middle, then made it to second after a big turn, realizing that nobody would hold him at first with the first baseman serving as the cutoff man. Cabrera nearly gave the Sox the lead, but David Murphy caught the ball at the wall. Still, Ramirez scored to cut the lead to 8-7. Swisher drew his second consecutive walk, and that set the table for Quentin.
Once again, Quentin only needed one pitch. He got a knee-high fastball and blasted it into the bleachers to give the Sox a 10-8 lead. After returning to the dugout, he took a well-deserved curtain call.
He also took Clayton Richard off the hook. Richard did well enough in his first start, and I'll go into it with
more detail on Sox Machine, but it looked a little like Mark Buehrle's early starts. Some bad luck, some bad pitches, and some bad defense. The Sox made four miscues behind him, though only three would go for errors. The fourth was an errant D.J. Carrasco pickoff throw that Konerko should've caught.
The errors:
- Uribe made a nice play, lunging to his right to pick a grounder toward the line. But then he made a terrible throw to first, and Milton Bradley advanced to second -- although a good throw from Konerko would've gotten him. It wasn't a good throw, either.
- Ramirez not only dropped Dye's throw with two outs when a runner was held at third, but he couldn't find the handle. Murphy scored the tying run, and Richard ended up retiring Michael Young to end the inning.
- Hall dropped a foul pop-up, though it came at no real cost.
- Richard picked off Murphy, but Konerko's throw to second was high, or Ramirez was late getting to second. That cost Richard a run, because Ian Kinsler and Michael Young followed with singles.
On the other hand, along with the Ramirez flip, Dye made a nice diving catch toward the right-field line to take away a double in the eighth. Strange day for the Sox defense to say the least.
Record: 57-43 |
Box score |
Play-by-play