American League Roundup
While the Tampa Bay Rays have been the hottest team in baseball, the Chicago White Sox haven't exactly been slouches. The American League Central leaders won the first-ever game at Tropicana Field between teams in sole possession of first place in their divisions, cooling off the AL East-leading Rays, 5-1, before a crowd of 12,636 last night.
WHITE SOX 5, RAYS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - While the Tampa Bay Rays have been the hottest team in baseball, the Chicago White Sox haven't exactly been slouches.
The American League Central leaders won the first-ever game at Tropicana Field between teams in sole possession of first place in their divisions, cooling off the AL East-leading Rays, 5-1, before a crowd of 12,636 last night.
John Danks (4-4) allowed one run and six hits in six innings to beat Edwin Jackson (3-4) for the second time this season. He beat the righthander, 6-0, on April 20, a loss that left Tampa Bay in last place at 8-11.
The Rays have gone 24-11 since then and entered last night tied with the Chicago Cubs for the best record in the majors. They have won nine of their last 11 series, including six straight at home since the White Sox won two of three games from them here six weeks ago.
Joe Crede and Paul Konerko homered, and Carlos Quentin, Jim Thome and Orlando Cabrera also drove in runs for the White Sox, who are on a roll of their own with 12 wins in their last 15 games.
Chicago 002 002 010–5 11 1
Tampa Bay 001 000 000–1 7 1
Chicago AB R H BI Avg. Tampa Bay AB R H BI Avg.
OCabrera ss 5 1 2 1 .245 Iwamura 2b 5 0 2 0 .277
Pierzynski c 5 0 0 0 .282 Crawford lf 4 0 1 1 .274
Quentin lf 5 1 2 1 .299 Upton cf 3 0 1 0 .307
Dye rf 4 0 1 0 .288 CPena 1b 4 0 0 0 .223
Thome dh 3 0 2 1 .212 Longoria 3b 4 0 1 0 .252
Konerko 1b 4 1 2 1 .213 Navarro c 4 0 0 0 .361
BAnderson cf 0 0 0 0 .234 Gomes rf 4 0 0 0 .209
Crede 3b 3 1 1 1 .271 WAybar dh 4 1 1 0 .286
Swisher cf-1b 4 1 1 0 .207 Bartlett ss 3 0 1 0 .251
AlRamirez 2b 4 0 0 0 .218 Totals 35 1 7 1
Totals 37 5 11 5
E: Crede (11), Longoria (4). LOB: Chicago 7, Tampa Bay 9. 2B: OCabrera (9), Quentin (9), Thome (7), Swisher (6), Upton (15), WAybar (3). HR: Konerko (6), off Hammel; Crede (9), off EJackson. RBIS: OCabrera (14), Quentin (48), Thome (28), Konerko (24), Crede (29), Crawford (30). SB: Upton (15), Bartlett 3 (10). GIDP: Konerko. RLSP: Chicago 4 (Pierzynski, Dye, Konerko, AlRamirez); Tampa Bay 6 (Iwamura, Crawford, Upton, Longoria 2, Navarro). RA: Pierzynski, AlRamirez. DP: Tampa Bay 1 (Longoria, Iwamura and CPena).
Chicago walks (2): Thome, Crede.
Tampa Bay walks (2): Upton, Bartlett.
Chicago strikeouts (6): Pierzynski 3, Dye, Swisher, AlRamirez.
Tampa Bay strikeouts (11): Iwamura, Crawford, Upton, CPena 2, Longoria, Gomes 4, Bartlett.
Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Danks (W) 6 6 1 1 1 8 102 2.86 Thornton (H) 1 0 0 0 0 1 16 3.38 Dotel 1 1 0 0 0 1 18 3.18 Logan 1 0 0 0 1 1 14 2.50 Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA EJackson (L) 6 10 4 4 2 4 101 3.70 Hammel 3 1 1 1 0 2 37 4.82 W: Danks, 4-4. L: EJackson, 3-4. H: Thornton, 5.
Umpires: Home, Dana DeMuth; first, Lance Barksdale; second, Doug Eddings; third, Ted Barrett.
T: 2:46. A: 12,636 (36,048).
OAKLAND, Calif. - Jesse Litsch held down Oakland's offense just as he did in a shutout of Kansas City in his previous start.
Litsch won his fifth straight decision and extended his scoreless streak to 16 innings, former Phillie Rod Barajas had three doubles and drove in three runs, and Toronto took the rubber game from the Athletics with a shutout.
Litsch (7-1), coming off a seven-hit shutout of Kansas City on Saturday, hasn't lost in seven starts since a defeat at Tampa Bay on April 22. He allowed seven hits in seven innings, struck out three, and walked one in throwing a season-high 108 pitches.
Toronto 021 133 002–12 17 0
Oakland 000 000 000–0 8 1
Toronto AB R H BI Avg. Oakland AB R H BI Avg.
SStewart dh 5 1 3 2 .270 Hannahan 3b 5 0 3 0 .233
AHill 2b 3 0 2 2 .263 Crosby ss 4 0 0 0 .259
Inglett 2b 1 0 0 0 .263 Petit ss 0 0 0 0 .333
Rios cf 6 1 0 0 .260 Cust lf 3 0 1 0 .262
Rolen 3b 3 1 1 0 .293 ErChavez dh 4 0 0 0 .000
a-Thgpn ph-1b 1 0 0 0 .000 EBrown rf 3 0 2 0 .260
Mench lf 5 3 3 1 .258 Ellis 2b 3 0 0 0 .228
Scutaro 1b-3b 5 2 2 1 .269 DBarton 1b 4 0 1 0 .216
Barajas c 4 2 3 3 .301 Bowen c 4 0 1 0 .222
Wilkerson rf 4 1 1 2 .210 RDavis cf 4 0 0 0 .234
Eckstein ss 3 1 2 1 .266 Totals 34 0 8 0
Totals 40 12 17 12
a-walked for Rolen in the 7th. E: Cust (2). LOB: Toronto 11, Oakland 10. 2B: Rolen (12), Mench (1), Barajas 3 (7), Eckstein (7), EBrown (9), DBarton (6). 3B: EBrown (2). HR: SStewart (1), off Dinardo. RBIS: SStewart 2 (14), AHill 2 (20), Mench (2), Scutaro (18), Barajas 3 (14), Wilkerson 2 (15), Eckstein (13). SB: Rios (12), Rolen (4). SF: Mench, Wilkerson. GIDP: Rios 3. RLSP: Toronto 7 (SStewart 3, Rolen 2, Mench, Scutaro); Oakland 4 (Hannahan, Ellis 2, DBarton). RA: Thigpen, RDavis. DP: Oakland 3 (Hannahan, Ellis and DBarton), (Ellis, Crosby and DBarton), (Hannahan, Ellis and DBarton).
Toronto walks (7): SStewart, AHill 2, Thigpen, Barajas, Eckstein 2.
Oakland walks (3): Cust, EBrown, Ellis.
Toronto strikeouts (5): Inglett, Rios, Rolen, Scutaro, Wilkerson.
Oakland strikeouts (5): Hannahan, ErChavez, DBarton 2, Bowen.
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Litsch (W) 7 7 0 0 1 3 108 3.18
Carlson 1 0 0 0 2 0 22 1.66
Camp 1 1 0 0 0 2 14 4.05
Oakland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Eveland (L) 41/3 11 7 7 2 3 80 3.66
Braden 22/3 5 3 3 4 1 57 4.85
Dinardo 2 1 2 2 1 1 30 10.24
W: Litsch, 7-1. L: Eveland, 4-4.
IR-S: Braden 1-1. HBP: by Eveland (Rolen). Umpires: Home, Jerry Layne; first, Phil Cuzzi; second, Jim Wolf; third, Mike Muchlinski.
T: 2:58. A: 21,862 (35,067).
TWINS 5, ROYALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kevin Slowey pitched a six-hitter and Carlos Gomez had four hits and two RBIs, leading Minnesota over punchless Kansas City, which lost its 11th in a row.
The 11-game skid is the longest in the majors this year and Kansas City's worst since a 13-game skid May 12-25, 2006.
Slowey (2-4), in his 17th major-league start, did not allow a runner as far as second base until David DeJesus and Alex Gordon doubled in the ninth. The righthander struck out six and walked none. Until Gordon's RBI double in the ninth, he had pitched 14 straight scoreless innings for the Twins, who are 5-1 on a six-game trip to Detroit and Kansas City.
It was the second consecutive strong start by Slowey, who lost his first four decisions this season but stopped a personal five-game losing streak in his previous start at Detroit.
Kansas City 000 000 001–1 6 0
Minnesota AB R H BI Avg. Kansas City AB R H BI Avg.
CaGomez cf 5 1 4 2 .293 Dejesus lf 4 1 1 0 .280
ACasilla 2b 4 0 3 0 .326 Gathright cf 4 0 0 0 .261
Mauer c 4 1 2 1 .324 AGordon 3b 4 0 1 1 .289
Morneau 1b 3 0 0 0 .305 JGuillen dh 4 0 1 0 .246
Cuddyer rf 5 0 1 1 .228 Olivo c 3 0 0 0 .303
Kubel lf 5 1 1 0 .250 Teahen rf 3 0 1 0 .253
Monroe dh 3 1 1 0 .237 Callaspo 2b 3 0 1 0 .280
Lamb 3b 4 1 1 0 .252 Gload 1b 3 0 1 0 .246
BHarris ss 3 0 0 1 .256 Aviles ss 3 0 0 0 .000
Totals 36 5 13 5 Totals 31 1 6 1
LOB: Minnesota 10, Kansas City 3. 2B: CaGomez (9), ACasilla (2), Mauer (11), Dejesus (3), AGordon (14). RBIS: CaGomez 2 (22), Mauer (21), Cuddyer (19), BHarris (14), AGordon (23). CS: CaGomez 2 (5). SF: BHarris. GIDP: Cuddyer, Dejesus, Gload. RLSP: Minnesota 5 (Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Lamb 2); Kansas City 1 (JGuillen). RA: ACasilla. DP: Minnesota 2 (ACasilla, BHarris and Morneau), (ACasilla, BHarris and Morneau); Kansas City 1 (Callaspo, Aviles and Gload).
Minnesota walks (5): ACasilla, Mauer, Morneau 2, Monroe.
Minnesota strikeouts (5): Morneau 2, Cuddyer, Kubel, BHarris.
Kansas City strikeouts (6): Gathright 2, Olivo, Teahen, Callaspo, Aviles.
Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Slowey (W) 9 6 1 1 0 6 101 3.38
Kansas City IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Hochevar (L) 51/3 9 5 5 3 3 90 4.98
Mahay 2/3 2 0 0 1 1 15 2.66
Yabuta 2 2 0 0 0 1 33 5.73
Musser 1 0 0 0 1 0 13 0.00
W: Slowey, 2-4. L: Hochevar, 3-5.
IR-S: Mahay 2-2. IBB: off Hochevar (Morneau) 1. Umpires: Home, Fieldin Culbreth; first, Jim Reynolds; second, Tim Timmons; third, Gary Cederstrom.
T: 2:27. A: 12,336 (38,030).