The Chicago White Sox took the first game of the incredibly important four-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Monday with a 6-1 victory, extending their AL Central lead to three games.
At South Side Sox, Jim Margalus points out that the Sox struggled with runners in scoring position but did enough to get the job done. :
The White Sox went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. That's usually not a recipe for a victory, but tonight it was plenty thanks to Alex Rios.
A huge sixth inning three-run home run by Alex Rios was enough to give Jose Quintana the cushion he needed and gave the Sox the victory. Quintana, who had been struggling recently, was able to right the ship on Monday.
Quintana turned his evening -- and hopefully his September -- around the hard way. He walked Austin Jackson and gave up a single to Ryan Raburn to start the third, bringing Miguel Cabrera to the plate. Robin Ventura saw this act before, as Quintana slammed into walls in his previous two starts. He had Dylan Axelrod warming, but Quintana rendered him unnecessary. He got Miguel Cabrera to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, then froze Prince Fielder with an outside-corner fastball to end the threat.
After that Quintana went on to retire 16 of his next 17 batters en route to the White Sox victory.
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