White Sox beat Rays for 8th straight win

[May 31, 2012]  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox unexpectedly lost their starting pitcher in the fourth inning, and then went on to win their eighth straight game.

Alexei Ramirez drove in two runs and the White Sox extended their season-best winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

Chicago left-hander Jose Quintana was ejected by plate umpire Mark Wegner with two outs in the fourth when he threw a pitch behind Ben Zobrist at knee level. Chicago manager Robin Ventura was also tossed by Wegner for arguing.

"I've never seen anything like that," Ventura said. "I don't know how to explain it. I was shocked. Usually if the guy feels it (had) intent, he gives warning and it goes from there, but it just shocked me."

Quintana, through a translator, said he was not throwing at Zobrist.

"I was going to throw a fastball, but A.J. (Pierzynski) asked him for a changeup and instead of crossing him over, I went through and it just slipped away," Quintana said.

Tampa Bay right-hander Alex Cobb (2-1) hit a pair of White Sox batters -- Gordon Beckham during the first and Pierzynski in the third -- during the game. Pierzynski was hit with a man on second and one out.

"I was just trying to get a fastball in, and yanked it a little bit," Cobb said of the pitch that struck Pierzynski.

Pierzynski had made what Rays manager Joe Maddon called an awkward slide involving Zobrist in Tuesday night's game.

"I didn't ask for anything right there," Maddon said.

Maddon said Wegner handled the situation well.

"When a pitcher throws behind somebody like that, it's pretty obvious what their intent was regardless of the denials on the other side," Maddon said. "I thought the home plate umpire did a great job, actually. That really stopped everything in its tracks."

Dayan Viciedo had a run-scoring single and Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to help Chicago take a 3-1 lead in the third. Ramirez made it 4-1 with an RBI double in the fifth.

Luke Scott and Carlos Pena homered for the Rays, who have lost nine of their last 13 games at home.

"We're not really playing a high level of baseball right now," Maddon said. "Too many mistakes on the field."

Addison Reed worked out of trouble in the ninth for his sixth save. Pena drew a leadoff walk, with pinch-runner Rich Thompson advancing to second on Matt Joyce's one-out single. Zobrist and Scott then both popped out to shallow left.

"Anytime we get out there with a lead, we want to shut it down, but especially with everything that happened early on in the game you kind of want it a little more, to really shut the door on them," Reed said.

Pena hit a two-run homer off Nate Jones (3-0) in the sixth.

Alex Rios hit a first-inning RBI single. Tampa Bay tied it at 1 on Scott's opposite-field homer to left in the second.

Cobb worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second. After Alejandro De Aza hit a grounder and Beckham struck out, Adam Dunn hit a fly to center that B.J. Upton caught on the warning track.

Quintana allowed one run and one hit in 3 2-3 innings. Cobb gave up four runs and nine hits over five innings.

De Aza left in the sixth when he was hit near the right knee by the ball while diving back to second on J.P. Howell's pickoff attempt.

NOTES: Tampa Bay DH-LF Hideki Matsui was out of the lineup one day after homering in his Rays' debut. He entered in the sixth and went 0 for 2. ... Matsui will earn $615,519 from his contract with the Rays if he stays on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. Matsui was put on the 40-man roster Tuesday, meaning he will earn 128 days of major league pay from the 183-day season. His contract lists an $880,000 salary while in the majors and a $250,000 salary while in the minors. ... White Sox LHP John Danks (strained left shoulder) threw at 60 feet on level ground and could rejoin the rotation early next week. ... Chicago 3B Brent Morel (lower back strain) is set to start a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte. ... Rays OF Desmond Jennings (sprained left knee) is scheduled to start playing in minor league rehab games Thursday.

[Associated Press]

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