GAME THREAD: AL: MINNESOTA (69-72) at CHI WHITE SOX (60-81)

AL: MINNESOTA at CHI WHITE SOX

<div class="pre">MINNESOTA (7) VS CHI WHITE SOX (8) - FINAL

MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Tyner lf 5 0 2 3 0 2 2 .299
L Rodriguez 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .222
T Hunter cf 5 1 2 1 0 0 3 .292
J Morneau 1b 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 .280
M Cuddyer rf 5 1 2 0 0 1 2 .280
J Kubel dh 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 .263
a-R White ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .146
B Buscher 3b 4 2 2 2 0 1 2 .277
b-J Bartlett ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .276
J Morales c 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 1.000
C Heintz pr-c 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .220
N Punto ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .200

Totals 41 7 14 7 1 6 17

a-struck out swinging for J Kubel in the 9th; b-grounded to shortstop for B
Buscher in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - T Hunter (40, J Contreras); M Cuddyer (25, J Contreras); J
Morales (1, J Contreras); J Kubel (25, J Contreras). HR - B Buscher (2, 2nd
inning off J Contreras 0 on, 1 Out), T Hunter (28, 6th inning off J Contreras 0
on, 0 Out). SF - J Kubel. RBI - B Buscher 2 (4), J Kubel (54), J Tyner 3 (21),
T Hunter (99). 2-out RBI - J Tyner 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
M Cuddyer 1, L Rodriguez 2, T Hunter 2, B Buscher 1. Team LOB - 9.

FIELDING: E - B Buscher (4, ground ball).


CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Owens cf 5 2 2 1 1 2 4 .247
S Podsednik lf 5 0 1 0 0 2 4 .260
J Thome dh 4 1 2 2 1 2 0 .270
P Konerko 1b 4 1 2 3 1 0 2 .262
J Dye rf 4 0 1 0 1 1 1 .247
A Cintron 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .232
J Uribe ss 5 2 4 0 0 1 1 .227
D Richar 2b 5 0 2 0 0 0 5 .214
T Hall c 3 1 0 0 0 1 2 .204
a-A Pierzynski ph-c 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 .268

Totals 40 8 16 8 5 9 23

a-homered to right for T Hall in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - D Richar 2 (5, M Garza, P Neshek); J Uribe 2 (14, K Slowey 2). HR
- J Thome (25, 1st inning off M Garza 0 on, 2 Out), P Konerko (28, 1st inning
off M Garza 0 on, 2 Out), A Pierzynski (14, 7th inning off C Cali 1 on, 2 Out).
RBI - J Thome 2 (79), P Konerko 3 (78), J Owens (12), A Pierzynski 2 (46).
2-out RBI - J Thome 2, P Konerko 3, A Pierzynski 2. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - S Podsednik 1, A Cintron 2, P Konerko 1, D Richar 2, J Owens
2. Team LOB - 14.

FIELDING: E - A Cintron (8, throw). PB - T Hall.


----------------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA - 014 011 000 -- 7
CHI WHITE SOX - 200 300 30x -- 8
----------------------------------------------------

MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
M Garza 4 9 5 3 3 5 2 3.71
K Slowey 2 2/3 3 1 1 0 2 0 5.24
C Cali (L, 0-1; B, 1) 0 3 2 2 1 0 1 5.03
P Neshek 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 2.78
M Guerrier 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.38

CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era
J Contreras 5 13 7 4 1 2 2 5.91
M Myers (W, 4-0) 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.83
M MacDougal (H, 19) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.56
M Thornton (S, 2) 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 3 0 4.76

J Contreras pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
C Cali pitched to 4 batters in the 7th.

IBB - J Thome (by M Garza), A Pierzynski (by P Neshek). HBP - A Cintron (by P
Neshek). Pitches-strikes: M Garza 88-53; K Slowey 44-27; C Cali 11-6; P Neshek
34-22; M Guerrier 6-3; J Contreras 97-55; M Myers 27-17; M MacDougal 5-4; M
Thornton 16-14. Ground balls-fly balls: M Garza 2-4; K Slowey 2-4; C Cali 0-0;
P Neshek 1-1; M Guerrier 0-0; J Contreras 7-6; M Myers 4-1; M MacDougal 2-0; M
Thornton 1-0. Batters faced: M Garza 24; K Slowey 11; C Cali 4; P Neshek 6; M
Guerrier 1; J Contreras 30; M Myers 7; M MacDougal 2; M Thornton 4.

UMPIRES: HP--C.B. Bucknor. 1B--Joe West. 2B--Ed Rapuano. 3B--Ed Hickox.

T--3:25. Att--31,747.
Weather: 76 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, in
from left.</div>

 

Thome, Pierzynski help White Sox rally past Twins

<h3>CHI WHITE SOX 8, MINNESOTA 7</h3>CHICAGO (Ticker) -- This time the Chicago White Sox didn't needextra innings.


Jim Thome homered and drove in the key run and A.J. Pierzynskihit a game-tying pinch-hit homer as the White Sox posted an 8-7come-from-behind victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Paul Konerko homered and drove in three runs and rookie JerryOwens scored twice for Chicago, which rallied to beat Minnesotafor the second straight night.


Unlike Friday's game which the White Sox won, 11-10, on awalk-off single by Pierzynski in the bottom of the 13th, Chicagoneeded just nine innings this time.


After Minnesota took a 7-5 lead on a RBI base hit by Jason Tynerin the fifth and a leadoff homer by Torii Hunter in the sixth,Chicago rallied an inning later.


With one out in the seventh, Juan Uribe hit a double to thecenter field wall. Two batters later, Pierzynski, batting forToby Hall, hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Carmen Cali(0-1) over the right field fence to knot the contest at 7-7.

"When pinch hitting, basically I think of three strikes to tryto get three real good swings on the ball," Pierzynski said."Nobody is really expecting me to get a hit, so there's no realpressure to get one. You just want to do well for yourself andtry to get a good pitch and hit it out."


After a walk to Owens and a single by Scott Podsednik, Thomelined a base hit up the middle to make it 8-7.


Mike Myers (4-0), the second of four Chicago pitchers, earnedthe win by hurling two innings of one-hit relief. MikeMacDougal recorded two outs in the eighth before being replacedby Matt Thornton, who struck out Justin Morneau to end theinning. Thornton also pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to collect hissecond save of the season.


The White Sox had also trailed, 5-2, after three innings, butknotted the score at 5-5 in the fourth on a run-scoring base hitby Owens and a two-run single by Konerko.


Thome and Konerko had given chicago a quick two-run lead in thefist on back-to-back solo homers. It was the 497th career homerfor Thome, leaving him three shy of becoming the 23rd man toreach the 500 mark.


"It's something to enjoy, something I try not to get caught upinto, but it's getting hard, because I'm getting close." Thomesaid. "It's really cool to look back at your career and imaginejust playing the game."


"It's nice, the way our season's going, to see something realpositive." White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "People areexcited for Jim and it's a great feeling."


The Twins scored one in the second and four in the third to takea three-run lead.


White Sox starter Jose Contreras surrendered seven runs - fourearned - and a season-high 13 hits in five-plus innings.

"When you get behind, you're going to get hit," Guillen said."We didn't help Jose in the field to get out of some jams. Idon't think it was his best game for him, but he kept battlingreal well."


Matt Garza, who started for Minnesota, wasn't much better,giving up five runs, nine hits and three walks in just fourframes.


"Garza battled through four hard innings, but we didn't makepitches, and when you don't make pitches, you don't win games,"Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.


Rookie Brian Buscher hit his second career homer and Hunter wentdeep as well for the Twins, who suffered their season-highsixth straight loss.

 

AL: MINNESOTA at CHI WHITE SOX

<div class="pre">MINNESOTA (7) VS CHI WHITE SOX (8) - FINAL

MINNESOTA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Tyner lf 5 0 2 3 0 2 2 .299
L Rodriguez 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .222
T Hunter cf 5 1 2 1 0 0 3 .292
J Morneau 1b 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 .280
M Cuddyer rf 5 1 2 0 0 1 2 .280
J Kubel dh 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 .263
a-R White ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .146
B Buscher 3b 4 2 2 2 0 1 2 .277
b-J Bartlett ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .276
J Morales c 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 1.000
C Heintz pr-c 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .220
N Punto ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .200

Totals 41 7 14 7 1 6 17

a-struck out swinging for J Kubel in the 9th; b-grounded to shortstop for B
Buscher in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - T Hunter (40, J Contreras); M Cuddyer (25, J Contreras); J
Morales (1, J Contreras); J Kubel (25, J Contreras). HR - B Buscher (2, 2nd
inning off J Contreras 0 on, 1 Out), T Hunter (28, 6th inning off J Contreras 0
on, 0 Out). SF - J Kubel. RBI - B Buscher 2 (4), J Kubel (54), J Tyner 3 (21),
T Hunter (99). 2-out RBI - J Tyner 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
M Cuddyer 1, L Rodriguez 2, T Hunter 2, B Buscher 1. Team LOB - 9.

FIELDING: E - B Buscher (4, ground ball).


CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
J Owens cf 5 2 2 1 1 2 4 .247
S Podsednik lf 5 0 1 0 0 2 4 .260
J Thome dh 4 1 2 2 1 2 0 .270
P Konerko 1b 4 1 2 3 1 0 2 .262
J Dye rf 4 0 1 0 1 1 1 .247
A Cintron 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .232
J Uribe ss 5 2 4 0 0 1 1 .227
D Richar 2b 5 0 2 0 0 0 5 .214
T Hall c 3 1 0 0 0 1 2 .204
a-A Pierzynski ph-c 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 .268

Totals 40 8 16 8 5 9 23

a-homered to right for T Hall in the 7th.

BATTING: 2B - D Richar 2 (5, M Garza, P Neshek); J Uribe 2 (14, K Slowey 2). HR
- J Thome (25, 1st inning off M Garza 0 on, 2 Out), P Konerko (28, 1st inning
off M Garza 0 on, 2 Out), A Pierzynski (14, 7th inning off C Cali 1 on, 2 Out).
RBI - J Thome 2 (79), P Konerko 3 (78), J Owens (12), A Pierzynski 2 (46).
2-out RBI - J Thome 2, P Konerko 3, A Pierzynski 2. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - S Podsednik 1, A Cintron 2, P Konerko 1, D Richar 2, J Owens
2. Team LOB - 14.

FIELDING: E - A Cintron (8, throw). PB - T Hall.


----------------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA - 014 011 000 -- 7
CHI WHITE SOX - 200 300 30x -- 8
----------------------------------------------------

MINNESOTA ip h r er bb so hr era
M Garza 4 9 5 3 3 5 2 3.71
K Slowey 2 2/3 3 1 1 0 2 0 5.24
C Cali (L, 0-1; B, 1) 0 3 2 2 1 0 1 5.03
P Neshek 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 2.78
M Guerrier 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.38

CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era
J Contreras 5 13 7 4 1 2 2 5.91
M Myers (W, 4-0) 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.83
M MacDougal (H, 19) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.56
M Thornton (S, 2) 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 3 0 4.76

J Contreras pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
C Cali pitched to 4 batters in the 7th.

IBB - J Thome (by M Garza), A Pierzynski (by P Neshek). HBP - A Cintron (by P
Neshek). Pitches-strikes: M Garza 88-53; K Slowey 44-27; C Cali 11-6; P Neshek
34-22; M Guerrier 6-3; J Contreras 97-55; M Myers 27-17; M MacDougal 5-4; M
Thornton 18-14. Ground balls-fly balls: M Garza 2-4; K Slowey 2-4; C Cali 0-0;
P Neshek 1-1; M Guerrier 0-0; J Contreras 7-6; M Myers 4-1; M MacDougal 2-0; M
Thornton 1-0. Batters faced: M Garza 24; K Slowey 11; C Cali 4; P Neshek 6; M
Guerrier 1; J Contreras 30; M Myers 7; M MacDougal 2; M Thornton 4.

UMPIRES: HP--C.B. Bucknor. 1B--Joe West. 2B--Ed Rapuano. 3B--Ed Hickox.

T--0:25. Att--31,747.
Weather: 76 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, in
from left.</div>