White Sox edge Red Sox in 19 innings

Baseball Betting Lines

07/10/2006 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tadahito Iguchi singled home Alex Cintron with one out in the 19th inning, lifting the Chicago White Sox over the Boston Red Sox 6-5 at U.S. Cellular Field.

Iguchi ended 2-for-7 with a homer and two RBI for Chicago, which ended the first half of the season 57-31, two games behind the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers.

Jermaine Dye homered and drove in two runs for the White Sox, who rallied to tie the game in the ninth and again in the 11th before finally taking their first lead of the game in the last inning.

"You try to put in the right people so you don't lose the game," said Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen. "It feels bad when you lose, worse when you lose two in a row and this was a pretty big game for us. I'm glad that it came out like that."

With Rudy Seanez in his third inning of relief work, Cintron started the rally with a one-out single, moved to second on Rob Mackowiak's infield hit and to third on Scott Podsednik's single to left. With the bases loaded, Iguchi stepped to the plate for the ninth time in the game and singled to left to drive in Cintron with the winning run.

The hit made a winner of Cliff Politte (2-2), who worked a perfect top half of the 19th.

Seanez (2-1) was hit with the loss, allowing one runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings.

This was Boston's longest game by innings since playing 19 on August 1, 2000, against Seattle. The White Sox last played this many innings in May 1991 against Milwaukee in Chicago.

The 19 innings played and six hour, 19 minute length of the game are both major league-longs this season.

Chicago starter Jose Contreras gave up three runs on four hits through six innings, striking out six and walking five. The first-time All-Star was one out away from watching his 17-game winning streak come to an end before Dye's homer in the ninth tied the game.

It marked the third time in Contreras' last five starts that he left the game trailing, only to see the White Sox come from behind to even the score.

Mike Lowell homered, finishing 3-for-5, and Mark Loretta drove in three runs for the Red Sox, who end the first half of the season 53-33 and three games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.

Boston starter Curt Schilling pitched six strong innings for Boston, yielding two runs on five hits in six innings with six strikeouts and a walk.

"You play as long as you are supposed to play," said Boston manager Terry Francona. "It was a long day for everyone and it was a pretty intense game. Physically it wears on you, mentally it doesn't. We went a long time where we just kept making plays, but we didn't mount much offense once we got in extras, they had more."

Boston drew first blood as Kevin Youkilis led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on David Ortiz's single to left one out later.

The Red Sox added two runs with two outs in the fourth to make it a 3-0 game. After the first two batters of the inning were quickly retired by Contreras, Lowell slammed the second pitch he saw over the center field wall. Coco Crisp then walked, Alex Gonzalez singled and Kevin Youkilis walked to load the bases. Contreras then got ahead of Loretta 0-2, but his next pitch grazed Loretta's jersey, forcing in another run.

Contreras then got behind 3-0 to Ortiz, the major-league home run leader, but the slugger swung at the next pitch and flied out to right to end the inning.

The White Sox managed to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning behind Iguchi's leadoff homer.

Chicago then pulled within a run in the sixth inning as Brian Anderson led off the inning with a double and later scored on Jim Thome's single to center. The White Sox had the tying run on third base with one out, but Schilling got Paul Konerko to fly out and Jermaine Dye to strike out to end the threat.

Dye, however, made up for his strikeout when he crushed an 0-1 pitch from Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon into the left field bleachers with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to even the score.

Boston briefly took a two-run lead in the 11th as Lowell led off the inning with a single to center. Willie Harris then pinch-ran for Lowell and moved to second on Coco Crisp's sacrifice and stole third as Alex Gonzalez struck out. Youkilis followed with a walk and quickly stole second to set the stage for Loretta, who slapped a single into left field, chasing both runners home.

The White Sox rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. Javier Lopez took the mound for Boston and lasted just four pitches as Thome greeted him with a double to left field. Mike Timlin replaced him and was greeted by Konerko's single to left, putting runners on the corners. Dye crushed a double to the right-center gap, scoring Thome while moving pinch-runner Ross Gload to third. A.J. Pierzynski got intentionally walked to load the bases and, one out later, Alex Cintron followed with a custom-made double play ball, but after Pierzynski was thrown out at second, Cintron beat the throw to first, allowing Gload to score the tying run.

Game Notes

Contreras' last loss came August 15, 2005 against Minnesota...Dye's home run given up by Papelbon in the ninth was just the third earned run allowed all season by the Boston closer and the first run given up on the road. It was also Papelbon's third blown save of the season...Each team used eight pitchers...Lowell has 11 HRs this season...Dye's HR was his 25th...Iguchi has 10 HRs this season...The previous longest game in the majors this season was an 18-inning, five-hour, 49-minute contest between the Pirates and Astros.