Konerko's Big Hit Lifts White Sox Past Royals
POSTED: Thursday, August 17, 2006
Chicago, IL -- (Sports Network) - Paul Konerko's two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning and the solid pitching of Mark Buehrle helped the White Sox down the Royals, 5-4, at U.S. Cellular Field.Buehrle (10-10) recorded his first win since June 27 after a six-game losing skid. The veteran left-hander went six innings, gave up two runs on six hits and struck out three. Odalis Perez (0-1), who was seeking his first win as a Royal, took the loss despite pitching seven innings. He gave up four runs on five hits, fanning six and walking one on 117 pitches. The scoring began right off the bat, literally, when David DeJesus hit a solo shot on the first pitch of the game to give Kansas City the 1-0 lead. In the home half of the inning, Pablo Ozuna tied the game at 1-1 with a solo homer of his own. Emil Brown led off the second inning with his 12th home run of the season, giving the Royals the 2-1 advantage. Jermaine Dye answered with a solo shot of his own, tying the game at 2-2. Kansas City threatened to break the game wide open in the third, but was halted by the veteran Buehrle. After Buehrle hit DeJesus, Mark Grudzielanek singled and Mike Sweeney drew a walk. With the bases loaded and one out, Buehrle got Mark Teahen to ground into an inning-ending double play. Chicago took a 3-2 lead in the third when Jim Thome grounded out on a fielder's choice, scoring Sandy Alomar Jr. from third. Alomar started the inning with a double, his seventh of the season. He reached third on a bunt single by Ozuna. Konerko increased Chicago's lead to two in the sixth inning with an RBI single that scored Tadahito Iguchi. Iguchi reached on a walk by Perez and advanced to second on a Thome groundout. The Royals got within one run of the White Sox in the eighth on Teahen's 15th home run of the season. Chicago answered back with an insurance run on a clutch double by Konerko that scored Scott Podsednik, who replaced Thome as a pinch runner. Thome was walked earlier in the inning by reliever Joel Peralta. Kansas City got one back in the ninth as DeJesus doubled off of reliever Bobby Jenks to score Ryan Shealy, who walked, narrowing the deficit to one at 5-4. A walk to Angel Berroa and an intentional walk to Grudzielanek loaded the bases with one out. Jenks, however, remained cool and got Sweeney to ground into the game-ending double play. Game Notes Chicago has won six of its last eight games...The win gives it a two-game lead over Minnesota in the AL wild-card race...The four home runs to leadoff the first two innings is a major-league record...Thome has 17 walks in his last 16 games...Since 2004, Kansas City is 6-22 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Copyright 2006 Courtesy of The Sports Network.























