Sox extend A.L. Central lead to 3 games!

This afternoon's 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers was not without it's faults. The Sox left 10 runners on base and went 2-13 with RISP. Not to mention a bonehead base running mistake Dewayne Wise in the 8th all could've made for a disastrous afternoon. But, the Sox showed some stones today with stellar defense and excellent work by the bullpen, namely Nate Jones, to pad their A.L. Central lead.

The Tigers led 3-0 going into the bottom of the 4th. The Sox had left the bases loaded in the 3rd inning and now found themselves with the bags loaded again in the 4th with two outs. Gordon Beckham was hit by a pitch from Doug Fister to get the score 3-1. Next batter Dewayne Wise then singled to tie the game 3-3 but with Beckham standing at third base, Kevin Youkilis lined out to end the inning.

Quintana's day was done after he gave up a lead off double to Miguel Cabrera and then a single to Prince Fielder to start the 5th. Nate Jones came on and gave up an RBI single to Sox-killer Delmon Young which gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead. Nate was able to get Jhonny Peralta to ground into a double play then Brennan Boesch to ground out on a nice play by Alexei Ramirez to end the inning.

The Sox bats went back to work in the 5th. With the bases loaded again and one out, Dayan Viciedo hit a routine ground ball that should've been an inning ending double play. But, Alex Rios, who in my opinion has been the team's MVP this year, went in hard to second base forcing a bad throw from Omar Infante that Price Fielder wasn't able to scoop up causing the ball to pass first base and scored two Sox runners giving the Sox a 5-4 lead!

When all is said and done, the play could be considered one of the big moments of the 2012 season. We'll see...


Nate Jones worked a 1-2-3 6th and recorded the first two outs of the 7th inning keeping the Tigers off the board. Robin Ventura atoned for not using Donnie Veal last Wednesday against Prince Fielder and called on the lefty to strike out the big bat. He did and was able to hand over the ball to Brett Myers in the 8th who also recorded a scoreless frame.

Robin used Myers, Matt Thornton, and Addison Reed in the 9th to close out the game. Each reliever got their man as Detroit didn't put any on base.

The 5-4 gives the Sox their 80th win of the season. A win total a lot of people didn't think they would reach at all. They now hold a 3 game lead in the A.L. Central heading to Kansas City to play the pain-in-the-ass Royals as the White Sox magic number goes down to 14.