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GAME UPDATE
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
CHICAGO (AP) -- Bring on the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox are ready.
|  | | Magglio Ordonez fueled the White Sox rally with home runs in the sixth and seventh. |
Magglio Ordonez homered twice, Carlos Lee hit a solo shot and Frank Thomas drove in three runs Thursday night as the White Sox rallied for a 10-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.
The victory, coupled with an Indians' loss, increased Chicago's
lead in the AL Central to 7½ games as the White Sox head to
Cleveland for a three-game series this weekend.
"To go in with that type of lead, that's big," manager Jerry
Manuel said. "That's what we've worked for all year, to make this
series not as huge as they're probably making it out to be."
Lorenzo Barcelo (3-1) gave up one run and two hits in 2 1/3 innings for the White Sox. Keith Foulke got the last five outs for
his 28th save in 33 chances.
Jeff Zimmerman (3-5) only gave up one run in two innings, but it was Ordonez's two-run homer in the sixth. Ordonez added an
insurance run in the eighth off of Darwin Cubillan.
One night after becoming only the third player in major league
history to play all nine spots in a game, Scott Sheldon stayed put for Texas. He made his 10th start of the year at third base.
"It's big," Ordonez said of the come-from-behind victory. "We
have a 7½-game lead. They have the pressure. We're playing right
now without pressure."
The White Sox had some pressure on them early Thursday, though.
Texas starter Kenny Rogers retired the first 13 batters he faced and Ricky Ledee homered as the Rangers took a 4-0 lead.
But then a funny thing happened. The scoreboard in right field changed. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who had been trailing the Indians 3-0, took a 4-3 lead.
As the Devil Rays rallied, so did the White Sox. They exploded
for five runs n the sixth and another four in the eighth.
"It was kind of a coincidence. We were sort of busting out at
the time," Paul Konerko insisted. "But it definitely gives us more incentive. It's only human. You try to go for the jugular when
you see them losing."
Charles Johnson led off the sixth inning with a walk, the first
of the night allowed by Rogers. Then Rogers plunked Ray Durham.
Tony Graffanino hit an RBI single to center, giving the White Sox
runners at the corners with no outs and Thomas up to bat.
The fans started chanting "M-V-P! M-V-P!" as Thomas stepped to
the plate, and he didn't disappoint. His double to left-center
almost lodged in the bullpen fence. By the time Ledee got it back
to the infield, Durham and Graffanino had scored and Thomas was
standing at second, clapping his hands.
That was it for Rogers, who was relieved by Zimmerman.
"I threw some really good pitches," said Rogers, who hasn't
won since Aug. 8. "I started thinking about doing things a little
bit different instead of staying with what I had because I had plenty to win today. I had both sides of the plate covered."
Zimmerman didn't fare much better than Rogers. Ordonez put the first pitch he saw over the fence in right field for the two-run homer, giving the White Sox a 6-5 lead.
"I turned to Carlos and I said, 'I'm going to try and homer,"'
Ordonez said. "I tried to get a good pitch to hit and I homered."
Ordonez didn't make any predictions in the eighth, but the
results were the same as he led off the inning with a homer. Lee
followed with a solo homer of his own, Durham had a sacrifice fly
and Thomas had an RBI single as the White Sox turned a close game
into a rout.
"They got it going, no doubt about it," Texas manager Johnny Oates said of the White Sox. "They are going to score 1,000 runs this year."
Luis Alicea and Chad Curtis hit RBI singles as the Rangers took
a 4-0 lead. The Rangers made it 5-1 in the sixth on an RBI single
by Bill Haselman.
Game notes
The White Sox have hit back-to-back homers 16 times this
season. ... Sheldon went 1-for-3, extending his hitting streak to
four games. ... The White Sox batted around in the eighth inning,
the 33rd time they've done it this season. ... The White Sox
presented Jose Valentin and Chris Singleton with "Hit for the
Cycle" rings before the game. The 14-karat gold rings have an onyx
stone with a white enamel overlay in the shape of the infield. Four
small diamonds represent the four bases. Valentin hit for the cycle
April 27 against Baltimore. Singleton did it July 6, 1999.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Texas Clubhouse
Chi. White Sox Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 11
Minnesota 6
Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 3
Anaheim 6
Detroit 4
Seattle 8
Toronto 1
Chi. White Sox 10
Texas 6
NY Yankees 7
Kansas City 3
St. Louis 6
Montreal 1
Houston 7
Florida 3
Atlanta 4
Arizona 0
San Francisco 13
San Diego 0
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