It Isn’t Very Pretty, but White Sox Win

BALTIMORE -- The game lasted nearly four hours and was pure agony for the Chicago White Sox -- until the final out.

Since style points don’t mean anything in the standings, the White Sox took great delight in their unsightly 13-11 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

“Any win is a good win. We gave up 11 but scored 13 to win,” said A.J. Pierzynski, who went five for five with four runs batted in. “Right now we just need to win games. We don’t care if it’s 25-24 or 1-0. It doesn’t matter.”

The teams combined for 37 hits, 12 walks and an error. Ten pitchers participated, and only once did the side go down in order.

“It was hot, humid and it just seemed like whoever we ran out there and they ran out there couldn’t seem to get that third out,” Pierzynski said. “I don’t know how many guys got on base today, but it had to be about 50 because there were a ton of hits, a ton of runners, a ton of walks, a ton of [stuff] going on.”

White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen summed it up by saying, “Real bad game when you score 13 runs and you have your closer in the ninth. Not a good sign. Good thing we won it, though.”

*

at Oakland 7, Toronto 4: Barry Zito settled down after giving up a first-inning grand slam to Troy Glaus and the Athletics moved back into first place in the West. The A’s had spent 43 days with at least a share of first place before falling half a game behind the Angels after a 4-3 loss Friday night to Toronto. Zito won his 97th game with the A’s.

Tampa Bay 19, at New York 6: Tomas Perez tied a major league record with four doubles, going five for five for the Devil Rays, who matched a franchise record for runs. It was their first road win this month. “They killed us,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. “It was just a day we’d like to forget. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”

Detroit 8, at Minnesota 6: Nate Robertson (10-6) became the Tigers’ fourth 10-game winner, joining Justin Verlander (13-4), Jeremy Bonderman (11-4) and Kenny Rogers (11-4). The Tigers, who have baseball’s best road record, have beaten the Twins, with baseball’s best home mark, two in a row. After winning only 71 games last season, Detroit became the first team in the majors with 70 victories this year.

Seattle 3, at Cleveland 1: Jarrod Washburn won for the first time in seven weeks and Ben Broussard homered against his former team, leading the Mariners, who won for the sixth time in nine games and are 3 1/2 games behind first-place Oakland in the West. The Indians are 17-30 since June 4.

Kansas City 5, at Texas 3: The Rangers’ losing streak reached a season-worst six games. Jorge De La Rosa won in his debut with the Royals. He was acquired from Milwaukee, where he was 0-2 with an 11.57 earned-run average.