Quentin, Ramirez power Sox to win over A's

OAKLAND, Calif. - Carlos Quentin felt right at home in Oakland.

Quentin hit his 34th homer and drove in 4 runs, Alexei Ramirez added a grand slam, and the White Sox won a series in Oakland for the first time in eight years by beating the Athletics 13-1 Sunday.

Quentin, who was a standout player at Stanford, went 6-for-9 with 2 homers in his first three games in Oakland.

"There's a lot of people I still care about here in the Bay Area," Quentin said. "I love coming back to Stanford, although I didn't have a chance to go back this trip. The Bay Area is familiar to me, and I always liked the Bay Area."

Javier Vazquez (10-10) allowed 4 hits in 8 innings to help the White Sox win consecutive games in Oakland for the first time since August 2000. The Sox also took the season series from the A's for the first time in eight years.

"When I get that many runs I think just throw strikes and be aggressive," Vazquez said. "Everything was working. With that many runs, just continue to pound the strike zone."

Juan Uribe added a 2-run shot, and Jermaine Dye also homered as the White Sox won for the fifth time in six games to remain tied with Minnesota atop the AL Central. Dewayne Wise also had an RBI for the Sox, who moved a season-best 17 games over .500 at 70-53.

"Every time we come here we get some crazy games," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We start out good with the Uribe home run and we took advantage of the guy not throwing strikes. He was all over the place, and when he tried to find the plate, we didn't miss them."

Former White Sox farmhand Gio Gonzalez (1-2) was tagged for 8 runs and 6 hits in 3 innings. The A's rookie, who walked five and struck out two, was making his third career start and was coming off his first victory.

"I tended to put too much pressure on myself," Gonzalez said. "I was trying to do too much, trying to be very detailed on every pitch, and I let it get the best of me.

Quentin hit a 2-run shot in the third, followed by Dye's homer. Ramirez's slam in the seventh made it 13-0.

"We have a very good team in all aspects of the game," Quentin said. "We can play defense, hit and pitch, and our bullpen is very good. I think we're doing a good job of bringing the same effort level every day."

Vazquez, who had a 15-inning scoreless streak snapped when the A's scored in the eighth, also reversed a bad streak against the A's by winning his first game in Oakland in 5 starts. He also kept the ball from leaving the park for the first time in seven games against the A's.

Vazquez retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced. He struck out eight and did not walk a hitter as he moved into a tie with Al Leiter for 66th place on the career strikeout list at 1,974.