What went right:
- Jim Thome hit his 32nd home run of the season, a titanic shot to right in the first inning.
- A.J. Pierzynski came through with a runner in scoring position.
- Scott Podsednik picking up two hits after a tough series.
- Joe Crede going opposite field for his 20th homer.
- Jermaine Dye reached base three more times.
- Juan Uribe made a beautiful play in the hole, making an quick exchange from his backhand to his throwing hand and throwing to first on the fly without planting.
What went wrong:
- The third inning. Mark Buehrle looked like his old self before and after, hitting 89 on the radar gun instead of 86, and was able to get in on the hands of righties and force some double plays. But he made a bad inning get worse when he walked Ian Kinsler with two outs to allow Michael Young and Mark Teixeira to come to the plate. Buehrle left two fastballs out over the plate, and they went back-to-back to turn a 1-0 Sox lead into a 5-1 deficit.
- Brian Anderson. He earned himself the silver sombrero with three strikeouts, and also slipped on a fly ball right at him. Jerry Hairston did the same thing earlier in the game, but he was able to recover in time. And Mark Buehrle actually pitched around that error.
- Neal Cotts vs. Kevin Mench. Entering the game, Mench had two at-bats against Belleville's Rose and homered twice. Make that 3-for-3 after tonight.
- Joey Cora. He gambled by sending Pierzynski on a sharp single to center, counting on Jerry Hairston Jr. not fielding it well. Well, Hairston picked the short-hop perfectly, threw home, and A.J. was out by 15 feet.
- Sean Tracey. He didn't exactly get revenge on the Rangers, giving up a homer to Brad Wilkerson. It was one of the laziest homers you'll see, but it was a homer nevertheless.
That's the kind of game it was. The Sox and Rangers scored in the same amount of innings (three apiece), but Texas made their rallies count a heck of a lot more. That's basically how it's gone for the last two weeks.
Record: 58-37 |
Box score |
Play-by-play