Two White Sox players got their first home runs of the year in a 6-4 win over the visiting Rangers Thursday night, earning their team a much-needed series victory.
After Sammy Sosa got his second round-tripper this week, Sox backstop A.J. Pierzynski hit a three-run homer off of Vincente Padilla in the fourth, giving his team a 3-1 lead.
The long balls notwithstanding, this was a battle of pitching until the seventh inning, when Javier Vazquez and Padilla–who surrendered a combined eight hits–were relieved.
From then on, it was a competition to see whose bullpen could suck more. Seven pitchers from either team would take the mound after the starters left in the seventh, with the Sox serving up a bunch of kids who would get carded in any bar, plus Bobby Jenks.
Surprisingly, the South Siders lost the “suck more”-contest. They did win the game, though, thanks mostly to Rangers reliever Scott Feldman’s breakdown in the eighth inning. He gave up a single to Joe Crede that brought in Jermaine Dye from second, as well as a two-run homer from Rob Mackowiak that scored Crede.
“Let that be a lesson to the rest of the league,” Feldman said after the game. “No team’s bullpen out-sucks the Texas Rangers’.”
Number of the Night: 479
Times Ozzie Guillen has accused the media of conspiring against him, following the flap over his supposed threat to “hit” Sosa.
