After leaving the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings Saturday night, the White Sox got the break they were looking for in the 10th.
Kansas City center fielder Carlos Beltran dropped Ray Durham’s fly ball near the warning track, allowing Durham to hustle all the way to third. The next batter, Tony Graffanino hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Durham for a 5-4 White Sox victory before 24,307 at Comiskey Park.
Keith Foulke (4-9) struck out four in two innings for the win. The Sox have beaten the Royals five straight times.
Before Beltran’s miscue, the theme for the Sox was missed opportunities. Royce Clayton and Jeff Liefer had struck out to end the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, with the bases loaded. And Mark Johnson fouled out with Aaron Rowand at third to end the ninth.
Paul Konerko’s line-drive single to left-center scored pinch-runner Graffanino to give the Sox a 4-3 lead in the seventh. Graffanino was running for Jose Valentin, who walked to lead off the inning.
The Royals tied the score at 4-4 in the top of the eighth when catcher Brent Mayne snapped a 0-for-20 stretch and doubled home pinch-runner Donnie Sadler.
Mike MacDougal, making his first major-league start, surrendered his first run in the second. Konerko doubled and scored on Chris Singleton’s two-out triple to right-center.
Both young right-handed starters, MacDougal, 24, and the Sox’s Jon Garland, 21, allowed three hits through four innings. Garland struck out four and walked only one over this span.
In the fifth, however, aided by some shaky fielding, the Royals batted around. They were credited with four singles, scored three times and took a 3-1 lead.
Carlos Febles was credited with an infield single that drove home the Royals’ first run. Garland was unable to field Febles’ bouncer back through the middle.
Another run scored when Durham caught Neifi Perez’s pop foul down the right-field line, and Gregg Zaun tagged up and scored after the catch.
Johnson homered for the Sox in the fifth, tying the score at 3-3. Durham tripled and scored on Valentin’s single through a drawn-in infield.
Garland yielded seven hits and three runs in the five innings he worked.
Evaluation time: Sox manager Jerry Manuel said he’s eager for next year’s spring training to begin so he can evaluate the progress of pitchers who will be coming back from arm or shoulder surgery.
“Some guys we’ll really watch closely are Lorenzo Barcelo, Antonio Osuna, Kelly Wunsch and Jim Parque,” Manuel said. “These guys have all had a good long time to rehabilitate.”
Milestone for Magglio: Magglio Ordonez has 102 RBIs, the third straight season he has reached the 100 mark.
