Thursday, May 12, 2011

136

It was all about the comeback last night. The White Sox came back from a 4-1 deficit by scoring in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings to beat the Angels, 6-4. Jake Peavy came back from lat surgery last July and rotator cuff tendonitis this March to pitch six innings in his first start of 2011. Matt Thornton came back from closer hell to earn his first save of the season by tossing a scoreless tenth inning. And Adam Dunn continued his comeback from suckiness by going 4 for 5 with a walk, including a homer and a crucial role in the ninth and tenth inning rallies.
The victory was just the fifth comeback win of the year for the Sox. Going into last night’s game, the team was 2-19 when trailing after six innings, 2-18 when behind after seven, and 1-18 when losing after eight – the three situations they faced last night. But an Alex Rios single and Omar Vizquel double resulted in one run in the eighth to make the score 4-2 Halos. Next inning, Dunn’s walk, Carlos Quentin’s single, and A. J. Pierzynski’s base knock made it 4-3; Vizquel’s sac fly drove home Brent Lillibridge (Q’s designated pinch-runner) for the tie. In the tenth, Alexei Ramirez singled, advanced to third on Dunn’s double, and scored on a wild pitch. The Sox picked up an insurance run when Lillibridge plated Dunn with another sac fly.

After Peavy’s 6.0 innings – he allowed four runs on seven hits – the bullpen went into lockdown mode. Jesse Crain gave up no runs on one hit in the seventh. Sergio Santos kept his ERA at 0.00 by pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn his second win. And for the first time in five tries, Matt Thornton notched a save by shutting down the Angels without a hit.

And while this doesn’t fit the comeback theme, Paul Konerko deserves mention for his – prepare yourself for some alliteration – fantastic final frame fielding feats. First, Paulie leaped to spear a liner. Then, the Captain fielded Torii Hunter’s bunt on one hop while running towards the mound and flipped the ball behind his back to Thornton, who grabbed the toss bare-handed while sprinting toward the bag to beat Hunter to first. Game over.

The win, combined with the Surprising Indian’s loss, moves the Sox to 9.5 games out of the division lead. The Good Guys are in position to win another series, with a 2-1 lead on the Halos with one left to play today. Go Sox!

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