What should have been a nice, comfortable victory Monday night after a stellar effort from Scott Schoeneweis turned into a cliffhangera 5-4 victory over Baltimore.
Perhaps the Sox are just stat-padding now. The win improved their major-league-leading record to 10-1 in one-run games. It was also their 11th come-from-behind win out of their 16 victories. The win also moved them a half-game ahead of Minnesota in the
"As long as we keep winning, that's all I care about," manager
The Sox took a 5-1 lead into the eighth inning, and Schoeneweis had a two-hit gem working. But he also had thrown 106 pitches and told Guillen he was out of gas.
"At least he was honest with me," Guillen said.
It's the fourth time in five starts that Schoeneweis had exceeded 100 pitches, although Monday he was seldom in trouble after giving up a run in the first inning on a walk, two stolen bases and a run-scoring ground out.
"I think I've been feeling more comfortable every time out," Schoeneweis said. "The more starts I've had, the better I feel."
Cliff Politte began the eighth inning and got in trouble.
Guillen brought in
Lopez drilled one to deep left-center field that
After going meekly in the ninth inning with three strikeouts, the Sox brought
The lead should have been more. Much more.
The Sox had the bases loaded in both the first and second innings and didn't score, and stranded nine runners through the first five innings.
"I don't think we're swinging the bats well with runners in scoring position," Guillen said.
Koch began the ninth by walking
But Koch walked
"He has a flair for the dramatic," Schoeneweis said of Koch.
Tejada hit a sharp grounder to short that
Not exactly "The South Side Hit Men."
Still, Guillen saw a positive to leaving so many runners on base.
"That means we have an opportunity every inning," he said.