Sox come up empty again in 6-3 loss in Boston
The sinking White Sox need all the help they can get, and the Red Sox tried to oblige Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Locked in a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning, Carlos Quentin led off with a popup behind the mound, which was dropped by Boston reliever Hideki Okajima.
Quentin advanced to second base on another strange play, Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez muffing a routine throw back to Okajima, and Paul Konerko followed with a single to put runners on first and third with no outs.
Surely, this was the big break the White Sox had been looking for, and surely, they were primed to cash in after giving away Monday night's game to Boston in the opener of a four-game series.
It turned out to be the same old sad story, though, as Jermaine Dye popped out, A.J. Pierzynski struck out and Alex Rios flied out to end the eighth.
The White Sox were 3-for-13 with runners in scoring positon in the 6-3 loss to the Red Sox and they are batting a sickly .224 (44-for-196) with RISP over their last 21 games.
"We're really bad with a man on third base and less than two out," manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters after the White Sox (63-63) dropped back to the .500 mark for the first time in a month. "Maybe the worst team in baseball right now. If somebody's worse than us, that's a record."
White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink has also been about as bad as it gets lately, and that trend continued in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Jason Bay hit a one-out home run off Linebrink (3-6) to put the Red Sox in the lead, and they added 2 more insurance runs off the veteran right-hander.
Trailing 2-1 in the seventh, the White Sox did catch a break when Boston starter Jon Lester struck out Alexei Ramirez, who advanced to first base on a wild pitch that scored Konerko.
Jayson Nix followed with an infield hit to third base that scored Dye to put the White Sox in front 3-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox rallied for the tying run. Jason Varitek doubled with one out against starter Freddy Garcia, who pitched well, and Martinez's pinch-hit single off Matt Thornton tied the game.
The White Sox have lost three straight.
"I know what I've got, and I'm still waiting for it to show up," Guillen said. "I'm the captain of the boat. I go down with the ship."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p> <p class="News">Red Sox 6, White Sox 3</p> <p class="News"><b>Tuesday's grade:</b> D. Fittingly, the White Sox (63-63) are back at the .500 mark for the first time since July 29. They were 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position against Boston and are batting .224 with RISP over the last 21 games.</p> <p class="News"><b>Freddy steps up:</b> In his second start, Freddy Garcia gave the White Sox a chance to win while pitching 61/3 innings and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits. He threw 93 pitches.</p> <p class="News"><b>Throwing it away:</b> The White Sox led 3-2 in the seventh inning before the Red Sox rallied. The White Sox have lost 31 games in which they've held the lead this season.</p> <p class="News"><b>Rios watch:</b> Alex Rios continued to struggle Tuesday, going 0-for-4 (0-for-3 with RISP). Since joining the White Sox off waivers from the Blue Jays, the outfielder is batting .195 (8-for-41).</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=316561">Liner puts Peavy start up in air<span class="date"> [8/25/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>