White Sox Power Past D-Backs 8-3
CHICAGO (AP) -- Alexei Ramirez hit a grand slam to fuel Chicago's seven-run fourth inning and Jose Abreu hit his major league-leading 13th homer and drove in two runs to lead the White Sox to an 8-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Abreu was the designated hitter because of a nagging left ankle injury. He went 3 for 4 and leads the AL with 37 RBIs.
Tyler Flowers also homered for the White Sox, who pounded out 15 hits.
Andre Rienzo (3-0) allowed three runs on four hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Brandon McCarthy (1-6) allowed nine hits and seven runs -- all in the fourth inning.
Arizona went up 2-0 on Gerardo Parra's two-run homer in the third inning.
The appeared secure because McCarthy was cruising, retiring all nine batters he faced in the first three innings on a total of 33 pitches.
Things quickly turned in the bottom of the fourth inning.
De Aza broke up the no hitter with a lead-off double and scored on a single by the next batter, Gordon Beckham. Following Conor Gillaspie's single, Abreu drove in Beckham with a single to tie the score at 2 and make it four straight hits.
Things were just getting started.
Following a strikeout by Adam Dunn for the first out, Dayan Viciedo singled to load the bases and Ramirez broke the game open by sending a 3-0 pitch into the left-field bullpen for the sixth grand slam of his career. The White Sox still weren't done as the next three batters singled. McCarthy, who threw 31 pitches in the fourth inning, was knocked from the game on the last of those hits, a run-scoring single by De Aza, to make it 7-2.
The Diamondbacks got a run back in the top of the fifth on a run-scoring single by A.J. Pollack.
Abreu then homered in the seventh -- a 442-foot blast to straight away center on a 3-0 pitch -- to make it 8-3. Flowers had a lead-off homer in the eighth to close out the scoring.
NOTES: Chicago RHP Nate Jones, who's been sidelined all season with a mysterious back injury, had surgery Monday to repair a pinched nerve. "We finally pinpointed it to be a pinched nerve in my back," he said. "It is a relief, because after surgery I'm not feeling any pain in my hip." Jones isn't expected to begin baseball-related activity for four weeks, but said he expects to pitch this season. . Chicago manager Robin Ventura will miss Saturday's game to attend the graduation of his daughter, Rachel, at Oklahoma State. Bench coach Mark Parent will manage. . LHP Wade Miley (2-3) faces Jose Quintana (1-2) in the second game of the series.
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