The White Sox’s race to the American League Central finish line recently has been clogged with obstacles.
But Wednesday night, the Sox cleared one of their biggest hurdles with barely enough room to spare.
Behind the crafty pitching of Mark Buehrle and timely hitting against workhorse Roy Halladay, the Sox rebounded from a three-game losing streak to beat Toronto 6-5 and maintain their one-game lead over Minnesota with 17 games remaining.
Before Bobby Jenks allowed three runs in the ninth inning before striking out Alex Rios with the tying run at third, the Sox responded to manager Ozzie Guillen’s liking — against one of the league’s top pitchers while employing a starting lineup that featured backups Dewayne Wise in the second spot and Jerry Owens in the ninth position.
Hours after Guillen held up a “Paws Up” T-shirt in the clubhouse imploring his players to fight like a cat, the Sox pulled out an efficient victory without the aid of a home run in snapping the Blue Jays’ 10-game winning streak and beating them for the first time in seven games this season..
Wise set the tone for a two-run first off Halladay with a single and he eventually scored on Jim Thome’s single.
Because of Paul Konerko’s sprained right knee, Wise was inserted in left field and batted second, with Nick Swisher moving to first base.
In the sixth, Owens laid down a squeeze bunt to score A.J. Pierzynski to extend the lead to 5-0 and evoke memories of Game 3 of the 2005 AL Division Series when Juan Uribe laid down a squeeze bunt to score Pierzynski with an insurance run.
Pierzynski didn’t bat in the second spot for the first time since May 13 but collected two hits in the sixth spot, including a two-run double in the sixth off Halladay.
The Sox collected nine hits off Halladay, who had his five-game winning streak snapped. Halladay leads the league with 224 innings and eight complete games but was pulled after six innings.
The Sox improved to 9-30 in games in which they didn’t hit a home run, and it means a lot because the club has lost Carlos Quentin (wrist), Joe Crede (lower back) and Konerko to injuries.
Halladay (18-10) limited the Sox to three hits in 7 1/3 innings in a victory May 4, and he beat Buehrle 2-0 May 31, 2007 despite Buehrle’s two-hitter (both home runs).
This time, Buehrle (13-11) was much sharper and was supported by tight defense in winning for the first time since Aug. 18.
After allowing three hits in the first, Buehrle allowed only one runner in scoring position over the next six innings until Guillen pulled him after walking Jose Bautista with one out in the eighth.
Octavio Dotel relieved Buehrle and promptly gave up a home run to Alex Rios that fueled a shower of boos that continued after Vernon Wells followed with a single. The booing stopped when Dotel induced Rod Barajas to ground into a double play.
The Sox added a key on Brian Anderson’s RBI single to score Swisher in the eighth.
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mgonzales@tribune.com
