White Sox 12, Indians 6: Konerko hits 400th in Sox uniform

The White Sox bats were again on display Sunday afternoon vs. the Indians. The Sox took a quick 3-0 lead in the first off of Ubaldo Jimenez. Alejandro De Aza was hit by a pitch and moved to 2nd on a single by Gordon Beckham. After Adam Dunn walked, Paul Konerko hit a blooper that fell behind Jason Kipnis and in front of Shin-Soo Choo, but Dunn not knowing if the ball was going to fall or not got caught in between and was forced at 2nd as De Aza crossed the plate. Alex Rios followed with a blistering line drive to right which scored Beckham and moved Konerko all the way to 3rd. After Dayan Viciedo flew out, Alexei Ramirez came through with a base hit to center to score Paulie.

Unfortunately, Gavin Floyd couldn't protect the lead. Casey Kotchman led off with a single and Shelley Duncan followed with a double. Johnny Damon delivered his first Indians home run to tie the game up at 3. Floyd then hit Juan Diaz with a pitch, which brought Don Cooper out of the dugout. Cooper seemingly ripped into Floyd and after Lou Marson singled, Floyd found his curve and struck out Choo, Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, Rios walked and stole second. With two outs, Ramirez came through for the second time with a single to right to bring home Rios giving the Sox a 4-3 lead.

After a fairly easy third, Floyd struggled again in the fourth. Diaz got his first major league hit, a single to right. Lou Marson was then hit by a high and tight curve ball that bloodied the backstops lip. After Choo hit a fielders choice, Brantley came through with a single scoring Diaz. A Kipnis single loaded the bases with one out, but Floyd induced a 1-2-3 double play off the bat of Jose Lopez.

The Sox would take the lead for good in the bottom of the 4th. With two outs, Beckham singled and Dunn walked. Konerko had a great at bat where he fouled off a ton of pitches until he got a high hanging curve ball which he deposited into the left center field bleachers to give the Good Guys a 7-4 lead.

In the bottom of the 5th, Viciedo singled. Ramirez followed with a double into the left field corner. Viciedo, made the turn for home until he got the stop sign from Joe McEwing. Unfortunately, he was too far off of third base and Jose Lopez cut off the throw and applied the tag as Viciedo was heading back to third. After Tyler Flowers was hit by a pitch, Orlando Hudson followed with a triple down the right field line, scoring two. De Aza followed with a triple of his own and tried to advance home after the throw to third got away. He was cut down at the plate causing the Sox to have two runners thrown out in the inning but still lead 10-4.

Floyd was in trouble again in the 6th, after a Diaz single and a Luke Carlin ground-rule double to lead off the frame. That would end Floyd's tough day, as Robin Ventura called on Will Ohman who proceeded to get the next three out, only allowing a run to score on a ground ball to 2nd.

The Sox would tack on two more runs in the 8th on a Viciedo single to make it 12-5. The Indians added a run in the 9th off of Hector Santiago to make it 12-6 but that is all the Tribe could muster up as the Sox swept the series and moved to a half game back in the Central.

* Alexei Ramirez had a big game going 3-5 with 2 RBIs. He's now up to .219. Hopefully he's busting out of his season long slump.

* Gordon Beckham was 4-4 with 3 runs scored. He's now hitting .224.

* Paul Konerko was 2-4 and now sits at .399. His homer was the 400th in a White Sox uniform as he now sits just 48 behind the Big Hurt Frank Thomas for the most in club history.

* Speaking of the Big Hurt, it was his 44th birthday today.

* The Sox have won 9 of 10. They have scored 46 runs in their last 4 games.

* Gavin Floyd like Jake Peavy yesterday, got hit pretty hard but still picked up the W.

Record: 26-22 | GB: .5 | Box