Chicago, IL (My Sportsbook) - Josh Fields belted a two-run homer to cap a four-homer, five-run seventh inning, as the
Chicago White Sox rebounded from a dreadful weekend performance with a 5-4 victory over the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays in a makeup game at U.S. Cellular Field.
The game was a rescheduled meeting of a May 26 postponement.
Trailing 4-0, the White Sox stormed back in the seventh, as A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe connected on three consecutive homers off Devil Rays starter Edwin Jackson to pull within one.
Danny Richar's double to right chased Jackson, but right-hander Dan Wheeler (0-2) came on and looked to prevent further damage, fanning Andy Gonzalez and Jerry Owens. Fields, however, lined a hanging breaking ball over the left- field fence to give Chicago the lead.
"It's too bad that what happened to (Jackson's) game," said Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon. "He was throwing the ball well. He had all three pitches working today. The worst pitch he made was probably to Pierzynski. The collective work for his day wasn't bad, just the outcome wasn't good."
Mike MacDougal tossed a perfect eighth and Bobby Jenks retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 36th save.
The win came on the heels of Chicago's embarrassing effort against the Boston Red Sox, who swept a four-game weekend series by outscoring the White Sox 46-7.
The rally also made a winner of Jose Contreras, who earned his first victory as a starter since June 18 against the Florida Marlins.
Contreras (7-16) allowed four runs and eight hits, walked three and struck out eight over seven innings for Chicago, which put the brakes on a five-game skid and won for just the third time in its last 16 games. Contreras also extended his career success against the Devil Rays, improving to 5-0 against them in eight games, seven of which have been starts.
"It was a great game," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "The last few games Contreras has thrown the ball better. It seems like he's pitched worse than his record because we haven't scored any runs for him. Today his fastball and location were fine."
Jackson yielded four runs and nine hits, walked a batter and fanned two over six-plus innings for Tampa Bay, which had a three-game winning streak halted. Delmon Young had a pair of hits, including a two-run homer, and B.J. Upton finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Contreras escaped some first-inning trouble, but was victimized by a lead-off walk to Upton in the second. Young followed and took the first pitch down the middle before crushing the veteran right-hander's next offering about five rows beyond the wall in center to make it 2-0.
A pair of one-out singles by Upton and Young had the D-Rays threatening again in the fourth, but Brendan Harris's double-play grounder ended the inning.
Tampa tacked on a run in the fifth, taking advantage of a lead-off walk to Greg Norton. Wilson flared a base hit to center, and both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Josh Paul before a sac fly by Akinori Iwamura made it 3-0.
Carlos Pena opened the sixth with a line drive double to right before scoring on Upton's single for a four-run cushion.
Game Notes
Contreras earned a win out of the bullpen on August 8 against Cleveland... The last time the White Sox hit three consecutive home runs was August 21, 2005 against the New York Yankees...Chicago won six of its seven meetings with the Devil Rays this year after splitting the six-game season series a year ago...Young's home run was his 10th of the season...White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf announced the death of Chuck Comiskey, grandson of club founder Charles Comiskey and a long-time executive with the team...Attendance was 37,030.