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Friday, Apr. 21 8:05pm ET
Hurt's homer, 5-run fifth dooms Tigers | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CHICAGO (AP) -- Josh Paul made a daring dash for third, determined to move up a base on a routine grounder to short. Smart play? Maybe not. But the way things have been going for the Chicago White Sox, it turned out to be a rally starter Friday night. The throw from Detroit shortstop Deivi Cruz was going to be in plenty of time, but the ball hit Paul in the shoulder and bounded away, allowing him to score and igniting a five-run fifth inning as the White Sox beat the struggling Tigers 7-2. "It feels great if you score," Paul said, asked about his shoulder. "At first I kinda messed it up. Then I was just trying to get in the path of the throw. I was looking at his eyes and trying to get in the way of it. It worked out." But for the Tigers, who have lost five straight, nothing is working. Not their bats, not their gloves. They've dropped 11 of 15 this season, the worst record in the American League. "The error was a bad play, but we don't have to turn it into a mess," Tigers manager Phil Garner said. "That's been our problem the last three games. We get into a tough inning and we can't get out of it until we get the bases cleared. We're being tested. We're going to have to see how tough we can get." The Tigers, shut out in their previous two games, did end a scoreless streak of 24 innings with a first-inning run, but did little else against Kip Wells and two relievers. Wells (1-2), in his fourth start this season, finally got his first win. He gave up a solo homer to Juan Encarnacion and allowed seven hits in 6 1/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts on a cold night at Comiskey Park. He'd walked 16 in his previous three starts but finally had a feel for his pitches and command of them. "We've got like a jet engine in the dugout and I was actually sweating in there it was so warm," Wells said of the heating system. "They expect this kind of weather here and so they prepare." With the game tied at 2, Paul doubled to start the Chicago fifth and scored when Cruz hit him with his throw to third after fielding Ray Durham's grounder. Walks to Jose Valentin and Frank Thomas loaded the bases and finished C.J. Nitkowski (1-3) in favor of Matt Anderson. Magglio Ordonez then hit a hopper to short that went for an RBI infield single when Cruz couldn't handle the ball. Chris Singleton followed with a two-run single and Carlos Lee hit a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2. "We're just focusing in on what needs to be done and we're having fun doing it," Paul said of his team's early-season success. Luis Polonia drew a walk leading off the game, moved to second on Wells' errant pickoff throw and scored on Greg Jefferies double that ended Detroit's scoreless streak at 24 innings. Chicago tied it in the second on singles by Singleton, Craig Wilson and Paul. Thomas homered in the third, his fourth of the season, and Encarnacion retied the game with his third homer in the fifth. Game notesChicago's 10-6 record is its best through 16 games since 1994 when it had an identical mark. ...Game-time temperature was just 49 degrees with a northeasterly wind at 13 mph creating a wind chill of 24. Sox 1B Paul Konerko created a strange look to combat the conditions. As is his custom, he had his black socks pulled high above his ankles and for several innings wore a white hood underneath his black cap. ....Detroit is 1-6 on the road this season and has lost six straight... Jeff Weaver, the Tigers' starter on Saturday, was the first pitcher to make the majors from the 1998 draft. Wells, who was 4-1 when called up last season, was the second. Wells celebrated his 23rd birthday Friday. ... In addition to his 400-foot-plus homer to center, Thomas also walked three times. ... Encarnacion's homer was Detroit's first in 28 innings. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse Chi. White Sox Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 8 NY Yankees 3
Chi. White Sox 7
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