The Chicago White Sox pulled further away in the American League Central division, defeating the Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Monday night.
The White Sox have had trouble offensively as they try to hang on to their lead of the division. Outfielder Alex Rios hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, while catcher A.J. Pierzynski had a solo shot right after.
"I think when Rios hits that ball, it just kinds of pops the cork on all the angst of not getting guys in," Chicago manager Robin Ventura told the Associated Press. "That was a pretty big home run for us."
The team scored four runs in the sixth inning and added two more in the eighth off a home run by Gordon Beckham.
Chicago had lost seven straight games to Detroit, but the White Sox took advantage of an error by the Tigers to break the game open.
Up until the sixth inning, the White Sox had only two hits when Detroit second baseman Omar Infante bobbled an easy grounder off a hit by Dewayne Wise. Following the play Paul Konerko hit a single and Rios smashed a home run to put the Sox up 3-1. It would be all the runs they needed.
The Tigers had three errors in the game and have lost four straight games. The team has only scored six runs over the streak.
"It's pretty simple. We just didn't play a real good game defensively and of course we only got the one run again. That pretty much sums it up," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Omar missed a groundball, but that's just part of the game. ... Unfortunately we put Rick in a tough bind. When you're scoring one, two runs a game, you can hardly blame your defense for what's going on. Right now we're just not scoring runs."
Chicago pitcher Jose Quintana had failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his past two starts, but was effective on Monday night, allowing only one run and seven hits.
Tigers starter Rick Porcello was 3-0 in his previous starts against the White Sox, but was knocked out after five innings after giving up five hits and four runs.
"When you get in a tough situation like that, you've got to bear down and find something within to get out of those jams. I wasn't able to do that," Porcello said. "They caught me that one inning. They tagged it in the sixth."
The Tigers came into the season with very high expectations after signing prized free agent Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million contract in the offseason. The team also returned superstar third baseman Miguel Cabrera and reigning Cy Young Award and MVP-winner Justin Verlander.
The team struggled in the first half of the season and now sits three games behind the White Sox in the central division and five games behind Baltimore and Oakland for the AL Wild Card.
"We struggled the last games against them and this win being the first one of the series is pretty big," Rios said. "This whole series is pretty important for both of the teams. We are going to have a chance to maybe get a couple of games ahead if we win the series. It could decide what is going to happen at the end of the year."
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