Jermaine Dye strengthened his American League most valuable player bid Tuesday night and Joe Crede gave manager Ozzie Guillen confidence to move him up in the batting order.
Dye hit his 39th home run, a three-run shot, and Crede collected four hits as the White Sox mustered enough offense to hold off pesky Tampa Bay 12-9 at damp U.S. Cellular Field.
The Sox nearly blew all of a seven-run lead but managed to take a half-game lead over Minnesota in the AL wild-card race and moved to within five games of AL Central leader Detroit.
The Sox, however, failed to put away the Devil Rays, who stole four bases off starter Freddy Garcia (13-8) in the first five innings.
Even an 11-5 lead entering the eighth wasn’t safe enough.
Neal Cotts’ woes took another turn for the worse when he issued a leadoff walk to Dioner Navarro and Jorge Cantu followed with a two-run home run.
Cotts has allowed eight earned runs in his last six games.
David Riske replaced Cotts but allowed three consecutive hits.
B.J. Upton’s groundout closed Tampa Bay’s deficit to 11-9, but Matt Thornton struck out Carl Crawford on a 97 m.p.h. fastball with a runner at third to end the inning.
Needing Thornton to get a crucial out didn’t seem even a remote possibility after the first two innings. Dye, who is 8-for-20 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in five games since taking over for injured Jim Thome in the third spot, vaulted the Sox to a 3-0 lead in the first.
Dye’s drive struck the top of the right field fence and bounced into the Devil Rays’ bullpen.
Dye increased his RBI total to 106 on a fielder’s choice in the second.
Crede hit an RBI single during the Sox’s four-run second, and he added an RBI double in the sixth that extended the lead to 8-5.
Crede is 8-for-18 with two doubles and a homer on this homestand.
The Sox, known more for their aggressive style, drew five walks off Devil Rays starter Casey Fossum (6-6). Fossum has walked 15 in his last four starts covering 15 1/3 innings.
Scott Podsednik made the most of a rare start against a left-handed pitcher by drawing walks in his first two at-bats and scoring twice.
In the seventh, Podsednik added an RBI single off reliever Ruddy Lugo.
Before the game, manager Ozzie Guillen stressed the need for Podsednik to continue his resurgence and felt comfortable starting him because of his lifetime .667 mark (4-for-6) against Fossum.
Guillen also fired back at critics of backup Rob Mackowiak, who struggled defensively in center Saturday against Minnesota.
“I make the lineup because I see the match-up, I see who will be better,” Guillen said. “A lot of people don’t want Mackowiak there, well, that’s the only [backup center fielder] we have. I like him. He plays hard.
” . . . Besides that, I’m going to let everyone play, not change what we’re doing. [Podsednik] is in the lineup right now, swinging the bat good, I like the way he went to the plate the last couple of days. Hopefully that works.”
But the Sox haven’t found a way for their pitchers to hold runners closer, with the exception of Mark Buehrle.
Opponents are 36-for-37 in steal attempts when Garcia is on the mound.
Garcia walked two for the first time since Aug. 2 at Kansas City.
The second walk was issued to Upton, who stole second without a throw and scored on two consecutive groundouts to first to cut the Devil Rays’ deficit to 7-3.
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mgonzales@tribune.com
