The White Sox turned four double plays Wednesday night and catcher Mark Johnson threw out two would-be base stealers in a 5-3 win over Detroit at Comiskey Park.
The victory, in front of 14,576 fans, was the Sox’s 12th in the last 16 games and their 13th in their last 14 games against the Tigers.
“You could say our defense won it,” Johnson said. “Those double plays were huge, especially the last one.”
The fourth Sox double play went short to second to first and ended the game after the Tigers loaded the bases in the ninth off Keith Foulke, who was credited with his 37th save.
Winning pitcher Dan Wright (3-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings and yielded three home runs–to Randall Simon in the second, Robert Fick in the fifth and Roger Cedeno in the sixth.
“We can live with three solo homers,” Johnson said.
The White Sox didn’t homer, but they had three doubles–by Johnson in the third, Jeff Liefer in the fifth and Jose Valentin in the seventh–and each figured in the scoring.
Simon hit Wright’s first pitch of the second inning over the wall to give the Tigers their only lead of the night, 1-0. In the home half of the inning, Johnson tied the game 1-1 when he doubled home Chris Singleton.
The Sox took a 3-1 lead when they scored twice in the fourth. Singleton singled in one run. Royce Clayton’s sacrifice fly scored the other.
Each team scored a run in the fifth. Fick’s homer cut the lead to 3-2 Liefer re-established the two-run lead at 4-2 when he doubled home Magglio Ordonez, who had singled. Cedeno’s homer made it 4-3 in the sixth.
The Sox upped the lead to 5-3 in the seventh when Valentin doubled and scored on Ordonez’s single.
“We have to keep trying to win,” Johnson said.
