I don't know about most of you, but the only reason I was worried at all about the Sox losing Wednesday's game was because I thought it had a chance to be called due to rain. Thankfully, the weather continued to be playable, and the Sox offense -- or maybe it was the Pirates pitching -- finally kicked into gear.
Freddy Garcia was his usual self, which is to say that he allowed Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm to go 2-3 with an RBI, and gave up two solo shots while staking the Pirates to an early 3-0 lead.
The White Sox offense looked anemic for the first 6 innings of the ball game, managing just 2 hits in the first 5 innings, and 3 in the first 6. They woke up to start the 7th, however. Jermaine Dye, A.J. Pierzynski, and Joe Crede led off with back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. And Juan Uribe cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center field gap.
It appeared like the Sox offense might go right back into hibernation when Maholm was pulled following the 4 straight hits, but our good friend Damaso Marte was there to help. He was able to strike out Jim Thome with a runner on third and one out, but Scott Podsednik lined a single over the second baseman to put the Sox up for good.
The bullpen continues it's mid-season turn around, as Agustin Montero, Matt Thornton, and Bobby Jenks combined to pitch three scoreless innings.
- In what may be his final outing with the Sox for the foreseeable future, Montero struck out the first two he saw, then got some help with a rare fine defensive play by Podsednik to rob Jason Bay.
- Thornton also struck out the first two batters he saw before allowing a bang-bang single that the suddenly rangy Iguchi couldn't quite get handle on.
- Jenks had a bit of trouble after quickly getting two outs, but was able to strike out Jason Bay to record his league leading 24th save.