White Sox Put Up Another Football Score

By The Associated Press

The Chicago White Sox are coming up with some impressive offensive numbers against one of the National League’s best teams.

For the second straight game, the World Series champions went to double digits, this time beating the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 13-5 on Wednesday night.

A day earlier, the White Sox won 20-6.

"When you got all eight or nine guys swinging the bat well, you are going to score some runs," said Paul Konerko, who had a homer and four RBIs Wednesday. "You don’t really think it’s going to be 13 or 20 or anything like that. That’s when you become real dangerous, when you got the whole lineup going."

The 33 runs in two games are off the club record.

The White Sox scored 11 runs on 12 hits in the third inning Tuesday night and finished with 24 hits. On Wednesday, they scored four runs in the first and five in the second and finished with 16 hits, four by Jim Thome.

"We talked about all year that we have a lot of guys who can pick each other up and that’s been a key for our offense," Thome said. "It’s hard to swing the bat well all year long. It’s good when you have guys step up and do the job and we’ve had that."

In other interleague games, it was: Milwaukee 4, Detroit 3; the Los Angeles Angels 6, San Francisco 3; Boston 9, Washington 3; the Chicago Cubs 9, Cleveland 2 in a game reduced to seven innings by rain; Baltimore 4, Florida 0; the New York Yankees 5, Philadelphia 0; Tampa Bay 3, Arizona 2; Toronto 6, Atlanta 3; Houston 5, Minnesota 3; San Diego 3, Texas 2; Kansas City 6, Pittsburgh 4; Oakland 3, Colorado 2 in 11 innings; and Seattle 8, the Los Angeles Dodgers 5.

In the only NL game, Cincinnati beat the New York Mets 6-5.

Thome, Konerko, Joe Crede and Juan Uribe homered as Chicago pounded Jason Marquis (9-5) for 13 runs and 14 hits in five innings, ballooning his ERA from 4.55 to 5.53.

"It was a bad night all the way around," said Marquis, who had won six straight decisions. "Our bullpen is a little short right now. You got to go out there and eat the innings up. If that means I’ve got to take a little beating while I’m at it, so be it."

Chicago’s Mark Buehrle (8-4) gave up 10 hits and four runs in seven innings.

"Getting early runs. There is nothing better than that," Buehrle said. "Everything they’re throwing up to the plate, we’re hitting."

So Taguchi and Jim Edmonds homered off Buehrle, and former White Sox reserve Timo Perez connected off Matt Thornton in the eighth.

"We’ve got some runs on the board, but we haven’t been able to get them out," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.

Edmonds left the game because of a mild concussion in the third inning after crashing into the wall trying to catch Crede’s homer.

Reds 6, Mets 5

At New York, Brandon Phillips hit a two-out, two-run single off closer Billy Wagner in the ninth to help Cincinnati overcome Jose Reyes’ cycle.

Wagner retired the first two batters then walked Austin Kearns and pinch-hitter David Ross. Rich Aurilia reached on an infield single and Phillips followed with his single. Wagner (3-1) blew his fourth save.

Reyes hit his fourth career leadoff homer to extend his hitting streak to nine games. He doubled in the third, tripled into right-center in the fifth and grounded a single to center in the eighth. He’s the ninth Met to hit for the cycle. The last was Eric Valent on July 29, 2004, against Montreal.

Angels 6, Giants 3

At San Francisco, Maicer Izturis hit a tiebreaking, three-run double in the eighth and Los Angeles avoided a three-game sweep.

Juan Rivera hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth for the Angels, but the Giants tied it the next inning when Barry Bonds entered as a pinch hitter with runners on the corners and no outs and grounded into a double play that allowed the tying run to score from third. Scot Shields (4-4) pitched two innings for the win.

Red Sox 9, Nationals 3

At Boston, Jon Lester (2-0) struck out 10 in six innings in his third major league game and David Ortiz hit a grand slam to help the Red Sox win their sixth straight.

Ortiz hit his 21st homer of the season and fifth career grand slam to give Boston a 4-0 lead in the second. He increased his AL-leading RBI total to 64.

Washington lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

Cubs 9, Indians 2, 7 innings

At Cleveland, Carlos Zambrano won again following a Chicago loss and the Cubs, handed extra outs by Cleveland’s infield during a bizarre eight-run third inning, rolled to the rain-shortened win.

Staked to a 9-1 lead after three, Zambrano (6-3) coasted for six innings while improving to 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in his last eight starts after a Chicago defeat.

Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia (5-4) allowed a career-high nine runs in 3 1-3 innings.

Orioles 4, Marlins 0

At Baltimore, Erik Bedard took a one-hitter into the eighth, and the Orioles snapped Florida’s nine-game winning streak.

The only Florida batter to reach base over the first seven innings was Alfredo Amezaga, who singled to center with one out in the fourth. Bedard (7-6) matched his career high with 12 strikeouts. Javy Lopez homered for the Orioles.

Yankees 5, Phillies 0

At Philadelphia, Jaret Wright (4-4) combined with four New York relievers on a three-hitter and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Johnny Damon went 3-for-3 with an RBI for New York. The Yankees have won two straight after losing eight of 11.

Brewers 4, Tigers 3

At Milwaukee, Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer off Joel Zumaya (3-1) with two outs in the seventh to help the Brewers snap Detroit’s winning streak at six games.

Milwaukee starter Chris Capuano (8-4) struck out eight in seven innings.

Devil Rays 3, Diamondbacks 2

At St. Petersburg, Fla., rookie James Shields allowed four hits in seven innings and Rocco Baldelli had a run-scoring for Tampa Bay.

Shields (4-0) became the first Devil Rays pitcher to begin his career with four straight wins. Brandon Webb (8-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings, dropping his third straight decision as Arizona lost for the 14th time in 16 games.

Blue Jays 6, Braves 3

At Atlanta, Lyle Overbay had two RBIs in Toronto’s four-run third inning and Vernon Wells added his 18th homer to back Ted Lilly (7-7).

The Braves are on their first nine-game losing streak since opening the 1988 season with 10 straight losses. They have lost 19 of 22 games.

Astros 5, Twins 3

At Houston, Adam Everett had two doubles and two RBIs and Lance Berkman homered as the Astros snapped the Twins’ eight-game winning streak.

Dan Wheeler (1-4) pitched a perfect eighth for Houston before Brad Lidge worked the ninth for his 19th save. The Astros are 10-4 in their last 14 games.

Padres 3, Rangers 2

At Arlington, Texas, pinch-runner Ben Johnson scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning on an error by Texas third baseman Hank Blalock.

Scott Linebrink (4-2) threw a scoreless eighth for San Diego and Trevor Hoffman got three outs for his 18th save.

Royals 6, Pirates 4

At Kansas City, Mo., Mark Teahen hit a tiebreaking, two-run home run off Salomon Torres in the eighth for the Royals.

The Royals, a major league-worst 21-49, have won four of five. It was the seventh loss in a row for Pittsburgh, 1-7 this year against the AL.

Athletics 3, Rockies 2, 11 innings

At Denver, Nick Swisher hit two home runs for Oakland, including a solo shot that tied it in the ninth, and scored the winning run in the 11th on Bobby Kielty’s single.

Kiko Calero (1-1) pitched two innings for the win.

Mariners 8, Dodgers 5

At Los Angeles, Adrian Beltre hit a two-run double in the eighth to drive in the go-ahead runs and Seattle won its fifth straight and 14th in 19 games.

Julio Mateo (4-0) was the winner for Seattle, 8-0 in interleague play.