Sox strand 11 runners against Cook, Rockies
The White Sox walked Colorado starting pitcher Aaron Cook right to the precipice, but they couldn't push him off the cliff in a 5-3 loss at U.S. Cellular Field on Sunday.
The Sox managed just 1 hit against Cook the first time through the lineup, but the next two times through the order they touched him for 3 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks.
"We started laying off what we call pitcher's pitches," said White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye. "We just tried to make the sinkerball be up in the zone. We finally put together a couple of hits here and there. Unfortunately, he did enough to win."
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Cook limited big hits with men on base. He marooned seven Sox on the bags in the middle three innings alone and stranded 11 baserunners overall.
Three Colorado relievers combined to hold the Sox scoreless on 1 hit over the final three innings, and closer Brian Fuentes induced a game-ending popup from Joe Crede with the bases loaded to give the Rockies the rubber game of the interleague series.
Crede's short flyball popped out of left fielder Matt Holliday's glove as he avoided colliding with shortstop Carlos Quintanilla, but Holliday stuck out his bare hand and made the catch.
The Rockies jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Scott Podsednik and Matt Holliday, but the Sox halved the deficit in the fourth when an Alexei Ramirez infield single allowed Crede to score. However, with the bases still loaded, Juan Uribe lined out hard to right field to end the threat.
Cook found more trouble in the fifth. After giving up a game-tying, 2-run home run to Dye, he walked Thome and allowed a single by Crede. Again Cook escaped worse damage, this time because Nick Swisher hit a ball on the screws that Holliday caught in left and turned into a double play by catching Thome off second base.
"The balls Swisher hit and Uribe, they connected real well but not with the result we want," said Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "But we swing the bat good today. We just don't have the big hit."
Podsednik restored Colorado's 2-run lead with an RBI single in the fifth, but Dye gave the White Sox a fresh start when he tied the game with a 2-run blast to right-center, his 11th home run of the season.
"We know what (Cook) has: a heavy sinkerball," Dye said. "You just have to try to stay up the middle with him. I got a pitch that I could keep my hands inside and was able to drive it out."
However, Colorado's Brad Hawpe grabbed the lead right back in the sixth inning by hammering a two-out, solo home run off Sox starter Jose Contreras, who took the loss despite giving up 4 runs (3 earned) in 6¿ innings.
"I left a pitch high," Contreras said. "It was stupid of me to throw that pitch, and I just left it high and I paid for it."
Chris Iannetta gave the Rockies an insurance run in the ninth inning with a solo home run to the left-field bleachers against reliever Boone Logan.
Rockies 5, White Sox 3
At the plate: The White Sox scored just 3 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks. They stranded 11 runners and left the bases loaded twice. Jermaine Dye went 2-for-3 with a game-tying 2-run home run in the fifth inning. Orlando Cabrera went 2-for-5 and lined out hard to center field. Joe Crede and Alexei Ramirez each had 2 hits.
On the mound: Jose Contreras allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits in 6¿ innings, walked two and struck out four. Matt Thornton finished with 2 strikeouts in 1¿ hitless innings. Boone Logan struck out two in the ninth but gave up a solo home run.