Sox get a win as Jenks holds off Twins to earn his 20th save
It is never, ever, ever easy for the White Sox to win at the Metrodome.
Ever.
A 1-10 mark in their previous 11 games there proves that point.
A nail-biting 8-7 Sox victory Saturday night just hammers it home.
But they did it.
They did it thanks to Jim Thome's 4 RBI - 3 on a wacky Metrodome-bounce double.
They did it thanks to a solid outing by starter Gavin Floyd (7-6), who allowed zero walks in 72/3 innings.
They did it thanks to the bottom third of the order coming through with 7 hits and 4 runs scored, led by rookie Gordon Beckham, who was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and 3 runs scored.
They did it despite former teammate Joe Crede haunting them with a pair of home runs and 4 RBI.
And they did it thanks to Bobby Jenks four-out save, his 20th of the season.
But the bottom line is they did it, and for that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was elated.
"I think that's my first win here in the last 10 years I've been managing the team," Guillen told reporters. "I never have a nice vodka. Every time I go out (here) I get drunk because I'm (mad)."
No need for anger after this one.
"Every time you beat these guys in this park you feel better," said Guillen, who has been effusive in his praise of the Twins over the years. "I wish somebody else would give those guys credit, not just me, because I sound like I'm pulling for them. They show up every day."
And thanks to Cleveland's 5-4 win over Detroit on Saturday, the Sox are just 21/2 games behind the first-place Tigers.
"We've been playing good the last month, and sometimes you wish the All-Star Game isn't coming because we're playing good," Guillen said.
Floyd continued his strong pitching of late, improving to 5-2 in his last 10 starts.
"I felt like I was pretty locked in. I went with the flow and we scored a lot of runs today, which helps a lot," Floyd said. "I felt good about it."
Things got tense in the ninth when Jose Morales hit a 2-run single following an error by Beckham on a Crede grounder, but Denard Span grounded into a double play to end the game.
"I still had a good feeling," Beckham said. "I didn't think we were going to give one up. I have a lot of confidence that we'll get out of that situation."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Mike Spellman's game tracker</p> <p class="News"><b>Grade:</b> E for exciting. From Scott Podsednik doing his best Bake McBride imitation with a chop-down infield single to start the game, to Bobby Jenks wriggling out of a ninth-inning jam, this one had a little of everything.</p> <p class="News"><b>Thanks, buddy:</b> Take away a pair of homers from former teammate Joe Crede and Sox starter Gavin Floyd's line Saturday night would have been superior. As it was, though, Floyd allowed 5 earned runs (with Crede accounting for 4) and threw 103 pitches, 72 for strikes over 72/3 innings to improve to 7-6.</p> <p class="News"><b>Double take:</b> Rookie Gordon Beckham provided one of the strangest sidelights of the game with 2 nearly identical doubles. In the fourth, his flyball down the right-field line barely eluded Michael Cuddyer and landed a foot or so in fair territory before bouncing into the stands for a ground-rule double. In the seventh, it was like watching a replay, only this time the ball barely avoided going into the stands.</p>