White Sox 8, Indians 1: Big fourth means easy night

The White Sox exploded for their biggest inning of the year tonight, but little did they know they had already scored enough.

Still, it's nice to see them err on the side of caution. The Sox strung together baserunner after baserunner against Jeanmar Gomez in the fourth inning, leading to six runs and a comfortable, split-salvaging victory.

The Sox entered that inning holding a 2-0 lead, courtesy of Adam Dunn's majestic homer to right of center, his 10th of the year. Dunn started the inning with a walk, and Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski hit back-to-back first-to-thirding singles to double the lead.

Gomez walked Alex Rios to load the bases, and Alexei Ramirez followed with a deep fly to left. Johnny Damon mistimed his leap, and the ball bounced off the wall. Runners had to hold to make sure it wasn't caught, so the wall-ball resulted in only a one-run single.

After Dayan Viciedo flew out to right to give Gomez some footing, Eduardo Escobar seized the momentum by shooting a single through the right side for one run. Up came Alejandro De Aza, who drilled a single back up the middle for two more runs, giving the Sox an 8-0 lead at the end of it all.

That was more than enough for Jake Peavy, who was in strike-throwing mode from the start. And his defense thwarted the Indians' best attempt to make a dent when he snared Michael Brantley's laser out of self defense, starting a 1-3 double play to end the second.

The Indians didn't disturb him until the very end of his evening, dinging him for a single run in his final inning. He allowed the one run on seven hits over seven innings, walking just one batter while striking out five. He threw 69 of 101 pitches for strikes, including 18 first-pitch strikes and eight 0-2 counts to 28 hitters.

Bullet points:

• Adam Dunn's fifth inning strikeout was doubly meaningful -- he has now struck out in 36 consecutive games, and it was also his 99th three true outcome game.
• Dunn's homer was the only extra-base hit for the Sox out of nine total.
• Alexei Ramirez reached on a bunt single in the second, kickstarting a three-hit night that hoisted his average to .209.
• A few drops of rain delayed the start of the game by one hour and four minutes.

Record: 15-17 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights