Paul Konerko’s home run in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in the Chicago White Sox’s 3-2 victory over the rival Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez also drove in runs for the White Sox, who have taken the first two of the three-game interleague set.
With things knotted at 2-2, Konerko continued his season’s resurgence with a solo shot to left center off Andrew Cashner (0-1), his 19th of the campaign.
That made a winner of J.J. Putz (4-2), who tossed a scoreless inning in relief of starter Freddy Garcia, who allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings.
Filling in for regular closer Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton recorded his third save by working around a walk in the ninth.
Derrek Lee singled in a run in the sixth for the Cubs and Aramis Ramirez tied things up with his sixth homer in the seventh.
Cubs starter Carlos Silva took a no-decision by surrendering two runs in six frames and is winless in three starts after a six-game winning streak.
Chi. Cubs | Chi. White Sox | |
Carlos Silva | Player | Freddy Garcia |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 7.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
3 | Hits | 8 |
3.00 | ERA | 2.57 |
Chi. Cubs | Chi. White Sox | |
Alfonso Soriano | Player | Alexei Ramirez |
2 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. Cubs | 8 | 1 | 12 | .258 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Chi. White Sox | 4 | 1 | 10 | .143 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |