Humber remains rock solid for White Sox
PHOENIX — Not fully recovered from the kidney stone he passed earlier in the day, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was still feeling woozy through the first few innings.
As Phil Humber kept throwing strikes and the rest of the White Sox started bashing balls all over the field, Guillen's mind and body cleared.
With a series against the crosstown rival Cubs coming up, it was a good ending to what started out as a rough day.
Humber pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Paul Konerko homered for the third straight game and A.J. Pierzynski hit a 3-run double, lifting the White Sox to an 8-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday in their last game before facing the Cubs.
“When the games start against the Cubs, it's a different ball game,” Guillen said. “Chicago's looking for this game and obviously the rivalry is there. You've got to step it up a notch because that's as close as you come to the playoffs.”
Konerko hit a solo homer to match Harold Baines for 56th on the career list with 384, Alex Rios added a solo shot off Josh Collmenter (4-3), and Alexei Ramirez drove in 2 on a pair of groundouts. Pierzynski capped a 5-run eighth inning with his bases-clearing double, sending Humber (7-3) to his fourth straight win.
The Sox took two of three in the desert to win their first series over Arizona in three tries, a good way to head into a three-game series against the Cubs that starts today on Chicago's South Side.
“We had a lot of guys who contributed today,” said Humber, 5-0 with a 2.81 ERA in his past 8 starts. “It's good getting out of here with a win in the series against a good team.”
The White Sox had a rough 24 hours physically before Sunday's series finale.
Left-hander John Danks took a liner off the head during his start on Saturday, but stayed in the game and checked out OK after a CT scan. He's expected to make his next start, most likely next Saturday with Jake Peavy expected rejoin the rotation.
Guillen also spent some time with medical personnel Sunday morning, rushing to the hospital to pass a kidney stone. Guillen, who also passed a stone in 2004, was back in the dugout about two hours before first pitch.
Humber certainly didn't have any problems.
The right-hander had the Diamondbacks baffled most of the day, staying out of trouble until allowing 2 runs in the eighth inning on Ryan Roberts' RBI double and Justin Upton's third hit, a run-scoring single to left.
Humber lasted 7⅔ innings, giving up 2 runs and 7 hits to become the first White Sox pitcher to go at least 7 innings in 6 straight starts since Jon Garland did it 7 straight in 2007.
“His was so efficient with his pitches early,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “He had a good sinker, a very good slider, good breaking ball, three change-ups. He is on a roll.”