The White Sox were in danger of falling below the .500 mark for the first time since June 28 when manager Ozzie Guillen was asked Thursday if the Sox were better than their 51-51 record.
“Yes, we are,” Guillen replied.
For the Sox to prove Guillen right, their offense needs a sudden turnaround. They were tied with the New York Yankees 2-2 in the ninth inning Thursday night following a 64-minute rain delay.
Entering the game, five starting position players were batting .220 or lower since the All-Star break: Alexei Ramirez (.220), Jim Thome (.219), Jermaine Dye (.180), Carlos Quentin (.171) and Paul Konerko (.170), and the Sox had a post-All-Star break batting average of .238.
Scott Podsednik was given a break after going hitless in his last 15 at-bats, even though he had two doubles and one home run in four lifetime at-bats against Yankees starter Andy Pettitte.
With Ramirez out at least through Saturday because of a right ankle sprain, the lineup featured newly acquired Mark Kotsay in the leadoff spot and Jayson Nix starting in place of Ramirez at shortstop and batting ninth.
That was the latest move Guillen tried to kick-start an offense that batted .212 and averaged 3.2 runs in its previous nine games.
Thome scored in the seventh on second baseman Robinson Cano’s fielding error after reaching on Pettitte’s error to lead off.
Nick Swisher tied it with a home run off Matt Thornton with two outs in the ninth.
Rookies Chris Getz and Gordon Beckham — the Sox’s two hottest hitters — produced the first run in the third inning off Pettitte.
Getz, who was batting .347 in his previous 22 games, led off the third with a single. With two out, Beckham ripped a double down the left-field line to score Getz and support Gavin Floyd with a 1-0 lead.
Beckham led all AL rookies in batting average (.305), on-base percentage (.376), slugging percentage (.470) and RBIs (29) entering the game despite playing only 59 minorleague games and not being promoted to the majors until June4.
His production helped vault the Sox from a sluggish two months to division title contention.
“The beginning of the season was tough,” Guillen said. “I never thought we’d play .500 by the way we played at the start of the season, to be honest with you. But we’re better than that. We started to play better than a .500 team.
“But if we’re going to win, we have to be [easily] above .500.”
Another deficiency that has harnessed the Sox is poor defense. Their 76 errors were second-most in the league through Wednesday, and their 52 unearned runs allowed have taxed a pitching staff that had the fourth-lowest ERA (4.11) entering the game.
They also have contributed to the Sox’s 12-18 record in one-run games, including a 4-3 loss Monday at Minnesota in which two errors led to two unearned runs.
“We’re not catching the ball,” Guillen said. “And when you’re not catching the ball, your pitching staff isn’t going to be better.”
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mgonzales@tribune.com
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