Thome's HR in 8th lifts White Sox past Royals 4-2

[April 08, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Jim Thome got to totally enjoy this opening-day home run. Thome hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, rallying the Chicago White Sox past the Kansas City Royals 4-2 Tuesday in a season opener delayed a day because of bad weather

Chicago trailed 2-1 when Thome hit his 542nd career home run, connecting with two outs off Royals newcomer Kyle Farnsworth. Thome homered twice in last year's opener off CC Sabathia, a loss to Cleveland.

The White Sox and Royals were supposed to play Monday, but a forecast of snow, high winds and cold forced them to postpone the game for a day. The conditions were far from ideal on Tuesday, with a gametime temperature of 43 degrees and 20 mph winds blowing through the ballpark.

Thome's shot gave Chicago the win on a day when Mark Buehrle struggled, and it erased a solid outing by Kansas City's Gil Meche.

After years of losing, the Royals believe better days are coming. And for most of the afternoon, this looked like one.

Meche pitched seven strong innings, Alex Gordon homered and the Royals were in line for the win until Farnsworth (0-1) came on in the eighth.

Josh Fields led off with a bunt single and moved to third with one out on Chris Getz's single. After Carlos Quentin struck out, Thome homered to center field and a crowd that had been listless went wild, drawing a curtain call from the slugger.

Winning pitcher Octavio Dotel (1-0) struck out the side in the eighth after Clayton Richard threw two scoreless innings. Bobby Jenks pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Gordon gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead when he connected off Buehrle in the second. Chicago tied it in the bottom half on Fields' RBI single, and the Royals went ahead in the fifth when Jose Guillen scored on Gordon's force-out.

That looked like it might be enough for Meche, who won 14 games last season. The right-hander allowed one run and seven hits, struck out six and did not walk a batter, but Farnsworth couldn't protect the lead.

It was a rather forgettable afternoon for Buehrle, who tied Billy Pierce's club record by starting his seventh opener. That bit of trivia aside, the three-time All-Star struggled with his control and consistently found himself in jams.

A 15-game winner last season, he allowed two runs and six hits while striking out three, walking three and hitting two batters over five innings.

A single by Thome helped the White Sox load the bases with none out in the bottom half. Fields hit an RBI single, but Jermaine Dye was easily thrown out at the plate when he tried to score from second.

Fields, replacing the departed Joe Crede at third, also saved a run in the fifth when he stabbed Billy Butler's grounder behind the bag and threw home to force Mark Teahen with the bases loaded.

Notes: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said Jose Contreras would be the team's No. 4 starter with Bartolo Colon in the fifth spot. ... Pierce threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

[Associated Press; By ANDREW SELIGMAN]

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