White Sox Gladly Balk Way to a Win

The Chicago White Sox made the most of a blown call.

Carlos Lee homered and drove in the go-ahead run with a 10th-inning sacrifice fly Saturday as the White Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-4, at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Magglio Ordonez, who went four for four with two runs batted in, opened the 10th with a single off former White Sox closer Roberto Hernandez (3-4).

Ordonez took second on Mike DiFelice’s passed ball, moved to third on a balk and scored on Lee’s fly to left field.

Second base umpire Rick Reed, who after the game admitted he missed the call, called a balk when Hernandez used his right hand to ask DiFelice for a new set of signs.

“I made a mistake,” Reed said. “It’s hard for me to admit that. I don’t like to be involved in the scoring of the game and I don’t want to be involved in the outcome of the game. Unfortunately, today I was and it’s not something I want to get into.

“I saw his hand go up and when his hand went up, that’s when I attributed it as starting his motion,” Reed added. “However, on the replay, it showed exactly what he was doing was going for another sign.”

The balk was the first called against Hernandez in his major league career--which totals 563 games.

“That’s what happens when you’re in last place,” Hernandez said. “When you’re in last place. . . . This is probably the toughest call I’ve had to swallow in my career. I could understand if I did it, but to give a team a run like that without even earning it. They blew it.”

Mark Buehrle (3-1) allowed one hit in one scoreless inning. Keith Foulke got three outs for his 21st save in 25 opportunities.

“We’ve found a lot of different ways, at least this particular season, to win ballgames,” White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said.

Texas 6, Boston 3--Ricky Ledee hit a fourth-inning grand slam to back Rick Helling at Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers handed Boston its fifth loss in seven games.

Gabe Kapler doubled in the second inning to stretch his hitting streak to 25 games, a Ranger record and the longest in the major leagues this season.

Mickey Rivers set the previous Ranger record in 1980 when he hit safely in 24 consecutive games.

Cleveland 5, Seattle 4--Bartolo Colon (11-8) struck out eight in seven innings, giving up just four hits as the Indians rallied from a 2-0 deficit at Seattle to win for the eighth time in 10 games.

Kenny Lofton put Cleveland ahead 3-2 in the fifth against John Halama when he circled the bases on his double--center fielder Mike Cameron kicked it and shortstop Alex Rodriguez threw wildly to third for a double error.

Oakland 9, Detroit 5--Jason Giambi hit his 30th home run and Ben Grieve added a three-run homer at Oakland as the Athletics stopped a six-game losing streak.

Tim Hudson (13-4) took a one-hit shutout into the seventh, then was chased and wound up allowing four runs and five hits in six-plus innings.

Baltimore 12, Kansas City 11--Albert Belle hit a two-out, two-run homer to cap a four-run ninth inning, and the Orioles overcame Jermaine Dye’s six RBIs to defeat the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City trailed 8-3 in the fifth before taking an 11-8 lead in the eighth on a two-run single by Dye off Buddy Groom (5-3) and Mark Quinn’s RBI single.

Minnesota 6, Toronto 3--Rookie Mark Redman (11-5) allowed one run and six hits in six strong innings and Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer off Esteban Loaiza (6-9) at Minnesota as the Twins won for the sixth time in 10 games.