White Sox 8, Rangers 6: Delay can't subdue Quentin

When Carlos Quentin hit his third home run of the night, giving the White Sox a much-needed insurance run in the top of the ninth, it was hard to remember what the first two looked like. After all, he hit the first of his homers six hours before.

A two-hour, 58-minute rain delay -- featuring tornado-friendly conditions and hail of varying sizes -- couldn't stop Quentin's momentum, and the Sox reaped the benefits, holding off the Rangers in a battle of the bullpens.

It was a clutch victory, because the Sox suffered more from the game-sized delay. The Sox led 4-2 before the rains came, and while Jake Peavy wasn't as sharp as his last time out, he was far more on the ball than Derek Holland. Not only was Quentin able to tag him for two homers, but he also hit a couple batters on top of a walk. The Sox looked pretty comfortable against him.

Alas, Mother Nature interrupted. First came the winds, which pushed Quentin's opposite-field shot a laughable distance before they became unplayable. The tarp came on the field before the rains came, and when the wet weather showed up, it swept the starters out of the game, as well as the fans, who were forced to evacuate out of the lower bowl.

When play resumed, Ozzie Guillen and Ron Washington pit their bullpens against each other. After Will Ohman retired his side 1-2-3, the game became a disorganized mess. Tony Pena allowed two runs in his inning of work, and now he has one more win on the season than John Danks. That's because Ron Washington called for his Tony Pena in Brett Tomko, and he hung a curve that Adam Dunn sent into the second deck.

Brent Morel later drilled an RBI single through the left side, but A.J. Pierzynski was thrown out at home to end the fifth, and the game became quite stupid from there. Among the lowlights:

*Chris Sale was sloppy, allowing a run on two hits and a walk. Not only did he fail to record a strikeout, but he couldn't figure out  how to get Mitch Moreland to swing and miss during a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with an RBI wall-single.

*Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton started out their innings with the dreaded leadoff walk. Crain escaped unscathed, but Thornton ended up allowing a run.

*Josh Hamilton, the guy who called out his third-base coach for breaking his humerus on a headfirst slide at the plate, slid headfirst into first, second and third base in succession. Not only that, but the last one came on a wild pitch with two outs, and Brian Runge called him safe even though Morel's second effort to tag Hamilton was successful. He should have been guilty of making the third out at third, but Sergio Santos had to work a bit harder.

*Speaking of extra efforts, Santos failed to tag David Murphy on a chopper up the line. Santos snagged the grounder, stuck out his mitt, and then looked the other way as Murphy ran right past him. He then had to turn and fire to first, but Marvin Hudson had already called Murphy out. It didn't really matter, since Santos' throw ended up beating Murphy to the bag by a fraction of a step, but both Santos and Hudson screwed up, anyway.

At least the game didn't go extra innings, and at least those who stayed up were treated to an awesome power display by Quentin. The Sox found a way to win it, and they'll have to do it all again in 10 hours.

Record: 23-27 | Box score | Play-by-play