Black Sox Blog

In the final game before the All-Star game, the Sox and the Rangers had a good ol’ fashion slugfest in which the Sox managed twenty two hits while the Rangers hit seventeen.  Home runs by Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye helped to keep the Sox in the game, but they eventually fell short 11-10 despite a three run top of the ninth rally that came close.  Jose Contreras started the game and had a rough day, only lasting four innings and giving up ten hits and seven earned runs.  Seven Sox players had a multi-hit game including six with at least three hits.  With such offensive production, the Sox usually manage to pull out wins on days like these, but the Rangers got some timely hits and big scoring innings put them over the hump.  Going into the Mid Summer Classic, Chicago has a one and one-half game lead over the Twins and a seven game lead over Detroit.  Looking good for the second half of the season, Chicago knows they must keep up the pressure to win the competitive AL Central.