While A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin are getting most of the favorable attention in the Chicago White Sox's revamped lineup, Jermaine Dye strengthened his case to be the cleanup hitter.
Dye fueled a comeback with two convincing home runs, including a three-run shot that ignited a five-run sixth inning and boosted the Sox to a 7-2 victory over visiting Cleveland.
The Sox (25-20) expanded their season-high winning streak to seven games and their lead in the American League Central to 2½ games.
Dye is 8-for-20 in his last four games from the cleanup spot he moved into May 12. His first homer helped turn around an offense that was limited to one hit over the first five innings against Paul Byrd.
As soon as Dye connected on Byrd's 2-1 pitch, he spiked his bat, pumped his fist and ran to first as the homer curled inside the left-field foul pole and traveled an estimated 417 feet.
Dye's second homer, his eighth of the season, knocked out Byrd in the seventh. Jim Thome promptly greeted reliever Jorge Julio with his second home run in as many games, a shot to center that increased his career total to 516 and ties him for 18th on the all-time list with Frank Thomas.
The Indians' game highlight was Victor Martinez getting his foot stuck in a bucket.
With one out in the fourth, Martinez whacked a line drive to center that was dragged down by Nick Swisher. Martinez trotted to the dugout and angrily kicked a white plastic bucket filled with small bags of sunflower seeds. Nothing wrong with a little emotion, right?
But Martinez's shoe went through the plastic, and he was unable to extricate himself from the bucket. As Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore sat on the bench trying not to be totally overcome by laughter, head trainer Lonnie Soloff bent down and removed the bucket from Martinez's spikes, without having to resort to surgery.
Manager Eric Wedge said he didn't see what happened, but he didn't seem surprised that one of his players would be overcome by the frustration of losing five games in a row and the club's in ability to mount an attack.
“I don't think they're happy,” he said. “I don't think they should be. This is where the toughness comes in. You can't hang your head. You have to be strong.”
Other games of note:
RED SOX 6, ROYALS 3: Bartolo Colon made a solid return to the majors for host Boston after recovering from an elbow injury, posting his first win since last June. The 2005 Cy Young winner allowed two runs and struck out four in five innings in his first game since Sept. 29, when he pitched one scoreless relief inning for the Los Angeles Angels.
YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 0: Alex Rodriguez hit two balls over the fence but was credited with only one home run as New York broke loose at home to stop a four-game losing streak. Rodriguez homered off Garrett Olson to start the third, then hit another ball over the wall in the sixth that was incorrectly called an RBI double.
ANGELS 4, BLUE JAYS 3: Vladimir Guerrero hit two home runs and Jon Garland remained unbeaten in Toronto, where he is 6-0 with a 4.47 ERA in 10 career games. It was the 34th career multihomer game for Guerrero, who came in batting .260 with four homers, his lowest career totals after 45 games.
ASTROS 5, CUBS 3: Shawn Chacon pitched seven solid innings for his first win this season, ending his major league-record streak of nine straight no-decisions to start a season. Carlos Lee's three-run homer in the third helped Chacon (1-0) overcome a rough start and avoid tying the overall record for consecutive starts without a decision.
PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 2: Ryan Howard homered twice, Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also went deep and the visiting Phillies piled up 15 hits and a season-high in runs. Jamie Moyer (4-3) took the easy victory by throwing six scoreless innings, thanks in large part to an inept Nationals offense that kept failing with runners in scoring position.
BREWERS 4, PIRATES 1: Ben Sheets limited host Pittsburgh to one run – a leadoff homer by Xavier Nady – despite allowing 11 hits in his second complete game of the season.
