White Sox have 4 homers, 19 hits to rout Pirates

[June 18, 2008]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, Orlando Cabrera and Jim Thome homered Tuesday night as the Chicago White Sox registered season highs in runs and hits to rout the Pittsburgh Pirates 16-5.

Thome's homer, a three-run shot to cap a five-run seventh, was the 521st of his career, tying him with Willie McCovey and Ted Williams for 16th on the career list.

Dye had a solo homer and a two-run double, Crede a two-run homer and run-scoring double, and Cabrera a two-run homer and sacrifice fly to lead the AL Central leaders to their second win in seven games.

Nick Swisher, who'll man first base with Paul Konerko going on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained oblique muscle, reached base five straight times with three hits and two walks.

Chicago finished with 19 hits, and the 16 runs came after they were held to only three combined in their previous two games against the Rockies.

Pittsburgh, playing without an ill Jason Bay and an injured Xavier Nady, got a homer from Jose Bautista.

Javier Vazquez (7-5) allowed five hits and five runs in six innings to get the victory.

The White Sox broke a 5-5 tie with a two-run fifth and finished Pirates starter Ian Snell (3-7), who threw 105 pitches in a laborious 4-plus innings. He allowed seven runs, nine hits and six walks, and also had a balk.

Swisher walked to lead off in the fifth and raced around to score when Crede's liner was apparently misjudged by left fielder Jason Michaels, who leaped at the last second and had the ball deflect off the tip of his glove for a double. Crede took third on the relay throw to the plate that shorthopped catcher Ryan Doumit as a sliding Swisher scored. Alexei Ramirez then followed with his second RBI single of the game.

Swisher had a two-out RBI double past first in the sixth and Crede followed with his 15th homer, off reliever Franquelis Osoria, for a 10-5 lead. Cabrera and Thome homered off Marino Salas in the seventh.

Dye's 12th homer, a double by Swisher, an RBI single by Ramirez and sacrifice fly by Cabrera after the balk gave Chicago three runs in the third and a 5-4 lead.

But Vazquez again couldn't hold a lead, surrendering Bautista's two-out solo homer in the fourth.

With the White Sox ahead 2-0, the first five Pittsburgh batters reached in a four-run second. Michaels delivered a two-run double, Doug Mientkiewicz had a run-scoring single and Nate McClouth added a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead.

Chicago scored two in the first and had an even bigger inning brewing before Joe Crede hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. Dye had a two-run, bases loaded double.

Notes: Bay sat out with the flu. Nady, who sprained his left shoulder when he hit a wall while chasing a foul fly in Baltimore on Saturday night, had an improved range of motion. But the team was still waiting to see if it would improve enough to keep him off the DL. ... The Pirates agreed to terms with shortstops Jordy Mercer and Chase D'Arnaud, their third- and fourth-round draft picks, respectively, in the draft. The Pirates have signed 24 of their 50 picks. ... The White Sox's previous season highs were 17 hits and 13 runs.

[Associated Press; By RICK GANO]

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