Chicago, IL – Tyler Flowers, Alexei Ramirez and Paul Konerko hit solo homers and Gavin Floyd pitched six scoreless innings, as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers, 5-1, in the middle test of a three-game series.
Alejandro De Aza and Adam Dunn each knocked in a run for the White Sox, who have won four in a row to improve to 5-2 on the young season.
Floyd (1-1) gave up just three hits to go with six strikeouts and three walks. He improved to 7-2 in 18 career starts against Detroit.
Brennan Boesch hit a solo home run for the Tigers, who have lost three of four since starting the year 4-0.
Adam Wilk (0-1), filling in for an injured Doug Fister, allowed two runs on three hits in his first career start. But Wilk left the game with an injury after a Prince Fielder foul ball hit him in the dugout during the top of the sixth inning.
The Tigers failed to score with the bases loaded in the second. Delmon Young was hit by a pitch, Jhonny Peralta walked and Andy Dirks was hit by a pitch to fill the bags with two outs. Ryan Raburn flied out to end the threat.
Ramirez's homer to left in the bottom half of the frame gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Flowers added a homer to left in the fifth to make it 2-0.
Detroit loaded the bases again the sixth. Austin Jackson doubled and Fielder and Young walked to fill the bags with two outs. This time around, Alex Avila went down swinging to end the threat.
The White Sox tacked on another run in the bottom half of the inning. Collin Balester took over on the mound due to Wilk's freak injury. He gave up a leadoff double to Brent Morel, who scored on Dunn's double to right-center field.
The home team made it 4-0 in the seventh. Flowers was hit by a pitch and crossed the plate on De Aza's triple down the right-field line.
Boesch and Konerko homered in the eighth to account for the final margin.
Game Notes
The Tigers activated infielder Brandon Inge from the 15-day disabled list and recalled Wilk from Triple-A Toledo before the game. Wilk had a 5.40 earned run average in 13 1/3 innings of relief in 2011. He had four strikeouts and one walk on Saturday...Detroit went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven...Jackson went 3-for-4.
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