No relief as White Sox blow lead in Kansas City

Posted May 05, 2009 11:00 pm

By Lindsey Willhite

Throughout the White Sox' mediocre opening month, their top four relievers have been the team's most reliable strength.

Bobby Jenks, Scott Linebrink, Matt Thornton and Octavio Dotel entered Tuesday's game at Kansas City having allowed just 5 earned runs (and 5 inherited runners to score) during their 35 ⅓ innings of work.

More to the point, the Sox hadn't lost all year when they led after the sixth or later.

But that streak ended when John Buck lined a bases-loaded single with 2 outs in the 11th to give Kansas City an 8-7 victory at Kauffman Stadium.

Lance Broadway (0-1) suffered the Sox' fourth loss in a row, but his bullpen brethren allowed the game to go into extras for the Sox (12-14).

Thornton and Dotel didn't have their best stuff and worked with starter Gavin Floyd to surrender leads of 5-1 and 7-4.

Thornton allowed 2 of Floyd's inherited runners to score in the sixth, then Dotel allowed 1 of Thornton's leavings to tie the game 7-7 in the seventh.

Linebrink and D.J. Carrasco slammed the door long enough to send the game into the 11th inning.

The Sox bolted to their leads with a mixture of bombs and bloops and canny baserunning.

Josh Fields led off the third with a home run to left-center, then Jermaine Dye upstaged him three batters later with a deeper 2-run homer in the same area.

Throw in RBI bloop singles by Scott Podsednik (second inning) and Carlos Quentin (fourth) and the Sox owned a 5-1 lead.

But Floyd kept up his recent trend of leaving pitches over the heart of the plate - most noticeably when Kansas City designated hitter Mike Jacobs bludgeoned a 93 m.p.h. fastball 440 feet to dead-center for a 3-run homer in the fourth.

The Sox regained a 7-4 lead in the fifth, but Floyd lost his control and left without getting an out in the sixth.

Floyd finished with 6 earned runs to show for his 5 innings - the third time in 6 starts this season he has allowed so many runs in 5 innings or fewer.

Floyd's struggles come at a tough time since the Sox already have a big rotation question mark in Jose Contreras.

Ozzie Guillen reiterated that Contreras remains the organization's best bet, even though 22-year-old prospect Aaron Poreda just threw a 5-inning no-hitter for Class AA Birmingham on Monday.

"I don't think this kid right now is ready for the big leagues," Guillen said before the game. "I think we've got to take it easy with that guy.

"I think we have to be smart with what we're doing because that's our future and we're going to bring that guy when it's necessary. But right now, we go with what we have."

<table width="295" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2"><tr><td> Game tracker Tuesday's grade: C. Sox starter Gavin Floyd gave up hard-hit balls all night - even when he got outs - and couldn't take advantage of the offense's 10 hits and 7 runs in the first 5 innings. Matt Thornton and Octavio Dotel maintained Floyd's penchant for giving up walks and extra-base hits. All hands on deck: Jermaine Dye and Josh Fields returned to the lineup after missing time with injured hands on HBPs. Both celebrated by smacking homers in the third inning off Royals starter Kyle Davies. Baserunning clinic: During the Sox' 2-run fifth, Dye and A.J. Pierzynski each went from first to third on RF Jose Guillen. Alexei Ramirez and Pierzynski also made sweet slides to elude tags and grind out a run. Pet peeve: Bobby Jenks hadn't pitched since Friday. He warmed up Tuesday, but Lance Broadway entered in the 11th instead. Why? Because it wasn't a save situation? Pitch your best guy. White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field TV: Channel 26 today; Comcast SportsNet Thursday Radio: WSCR 670-AM Pitching matchups: The Sox' Mark Buehrle (4-0) vs. Armando Galarraga (3-1) today; Jose Contreras (0-4) vs. Zach Miner (2-1) Thursday. Both games start at 7:11 p.m. At a glance: Galarraga used a vicious slider to scatter 4 hits in 61/3 innings on April 15 when the Tigers whipped the Sox 9-0. Detroit (14-12) features three hot bats in Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge (a combined .316 average with 24 HRs) and six lukewarm bats. Next: Texas Rangers at U.S. Cellular Field, Friday-Sunday</td></tr></table>