White Sox give up 3 homers in 8-3 loss to Astros

[June 09, 2012]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Gavin Floyd pitched better than he has in recent outings, but he still had trouble keeping the ball in the park Friday night.

Floyd gave up two homers, running his total to 10 over the last five games, as the Houston Astros came into U.S. Cellular Field and beat the White Sox 8-3.

Jed Lowrie and Brett Wallace homered off Floyd and Brian Bogusevic delivered the crusher with a three-run shot off Will Ohman in the ninth.

"The ball goes flying out of here," Floyd said. "I just have to make better pitches to those guys who are hot, especially Lowrie."

Lowrie's homer, following a two-out walk to Jordan Schafer, gave the Astros a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning. Floyd (4-6) , who has given up six homers in his last two starts, walked two, threw two wild pitches and struck out nine over six innings.

"It's location. Maybe the count, you fall behind. You give a guy the ability to sit on it and go after a fastball and it's going to happen," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said of Floyd. "It's just his location needs to be better when they're in hitter's counts."

Lowrie, who entered the season with 19 career homers, hit his 11th of the season. His first four seasons in Boston were slowed by illness and injury.

"To go through a lot of the stuff I have over the last four years, you have to believe in yourself," Lowrie said. "I've always known that I could be this type of player. It's been fun so far, I just hope to continue to that and stick to that same approach."

Wandy Rodriguez (5-4) gave up nine hits and three runs in 5 1-3 innings.

The White Sox had several early opportunities against Rodriguez, finally breaking through a with a run in the fifth on Alejandro De Aza's double, a fly ball that moved him to third and Adam Dunn's hard RBI grounder that Houston second baseman Jose Altuve flagged down in shallow right with a nice stop and threw to first in time.

Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynski doubled to start the sixth to make it 4-2, Pierzynski moved up on a grounder and scored on Alexei Ramirez's infield single, finishing Rodriguez and cutting the lead to one.

"Rodriguez was good. He was managing the game," Ventura said after his team stranded 10 runners. "When we got guys on, he found a way to throw that better pitch, keep up off balance, not let us get anything. We had guys on, we kept getting that rally with two outs. He was able to withstand that."

The Astros tagged on a run in the seventh when a single by Justin Maxwell and an error on Chicago shortstop Ramirez put runners at the corners. Altuve got caught leaving first base early, but in the rundown, Maxwell raced home from third with Houston's fifth run.

"We've just got to be more heads up and be able to see him take off," Ventura said. "We were sloppy defensively. We're going to get better."

NOTES: Chicago LF Dayan Viciedo left the game after five innings with tightness in both hamstrings and was replaced by Jordan Danks. ... Astros 3B Chris Johnson left after six innings because of nausea and was replaced by Brian Bixler ... Rodriguez of the Astros and Paul Konerko and Pierzynski of the White Sox are the only remaining players from the 2005 World Series between the teams that saw Chicago pull off a four-game sweep. ... White Sox 3B Brent Morel, who had been on a rehab assignment at Charlotte, pulled himself out of a game Thursday and will be examined in Chicago. Morel's been on the DL with a strained lower back.

[Associated Press; By RICK GANO]

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