August 17: White Sox 8, Royals 7
Scott Linebrink knows how to win.
He knew what he was doing when he walked two batters with two outs, then gave up a first-pitch homer to Mike Jacobs, erasing the 7-4 lead Ozzie Guillen brought him in to protect.
He knew Scott Podsednik’s deal with the devil would continue, as he would drive in Alex Rios (dreaded leadoff walk, Alexei Ramirez sac bunt) with a single up the middle off drop-down lefty John Bale. He also knew Josh Anderson would bobble the ball in center, which made what should’ve been a play at the plate an easy run.
He also knew Bobby Jenks would have his easiest save in ages: a 1-2-3 ninth, eight pitches, seven for strikes.
Unfortunately, Mark Buehrle is a little befuddled by it all.
Buehrle didn’t exactly deserve the win. When you let Yuniesky Betancourt help put you in a 3-0 hole, you shouldn’t expect any favors. But he kept the Sox in the game, enduring some soft hits and bad defense by Jermaine Dye (who misread a high fly, stopping short then flopping in vain) to last six innings, only trailing 4-3 when he departed.
The Sox put him in position for the win in the bottom of the sixth. Brian Bannister hit Carlos Quentin to start the inning, and Rios drove him in as Mark Teahan pulled his own Dye, overrunning his double to the gap and turning it into a run-scoring three-base event. Ramirez followed with a sacrifice fly for a 5-4 lead.
A.J. Pierzynski looked like he put it out of reach in the seventh. Two batters after a Paul Konerko walk, Pierzynski blasted a no-doubter through a downpour for a 7-4 lead.
Record: 61-58 | Box score | Play-by-play
