Recap: Kansas City vs. Chicago WSox
Sports Network | September 19, 2008
Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Alexei Ramirez's grand slam was one of Chicago's four home runs, as the White Sox beat up Kansas City, 9-4, in the first of three games with the Royals.
Dewayne Wise hit a pair of solo homers, while Jim Thome also homered for the White Sox, who moved 2 1/2 games in front of Minnesota for first place in the AL Central. Chicago gained a game after the Twins lost, 11-1, to Tampa Bay earlier Friday.
Mark Buehrle (14-11) got the win after giving up three runs on six hits in six innings of work, with one walk and two strikeouts.
Brian Bannister (8-16) had won in his last start, which broke a string of nine consecutive losses in as many decisions. But he was touched for seven runs on eight hits and two walks in five frames to drop another start.
Mark Teahen hit a three-run homer for the Royals, whose seven-game winning streak was snapped.
Chicago opened up a big lead with a six-run fourth inning. A Jermaine Dye double, Thome single and A.J. Pierzynski walk loaded the bases. Ramirez came up and blasted his 19th homer of the season to left field for an instant 4-0 lead.
Nick Swisher kept the inning going with a single, and after Juan Uribe doubled to put the runners in scoring position, Bannister uncorked a wild pitch to bring in a run. Orlando Cabrera followed with a single to make it a 6-0 game.
Kansas City cut its deficit in half in the home fourth. Jose Guillen singled and Ryan Shealy was hit by a pitch to bring up Teahen, who homered to left.
But Thome's solo homer in the fifth, and Wise's leadoff shot in the seventh increased Chicago's lead to 8-3.
David DeJesus' RBI single in the home seventh got a run back for Kansas City, but Wise homered again, in the ninth, to complete the game's scoring.
White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who had surgery for a fractured right wrist on September 5, had his soft cast removed and went through a workout program on Friday with minimal pain...Ramirez's grand slam was his third of the season, tying an MLB single-season record for a rookie...Shane Spencer set the mark in 1998 with the Yankees...Royals reliever Robinson Tejeda left in the seventh inning with a left hip flexor strain.
