Chicago, IL – Tyler Flowers hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning on Sunday, as the Chicago White Sox wrapped up a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 4-3, rain-shortened win at U.S. Cellular Field.
The start of the contest was delayed for 1 hour, 51 minutes due to rain, which persisted throughout the game. Play was stopped in the seventh inning and the game was called following a wait of nearly two hours.
Flowers homered for the second straight game while Kevin Youkilis added an RBI triple and Jordan Danks had a sacrifice fly for the AL Central-leading White Sox, who concluded a perfect six-game homestand -- their seventh perfect homestand in franchise history.
They lead the Detroit Tigers by 2 1/2 games in the division.
Gavin Floyd got the start for Chicago and lasted just two innings before leaving with right elbow discomfort. He was charged with one run on three hits with a walk and a strikeout.
"If it was that much that he was talking about it and was concerned about it, I didn't want him going back out there and something would happen. It's better to be safe than sorry," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said.
Hector Santiago relieved Floyd and gave up three hits -- including a two-run homer by Casper Wells -- over four-plus innings.
Nate Jones (7-0) replaced Santiago with runners and first and second in the seventh. The righty reliever induced a shallow fly out by Wells and a soft line out by Brendan Ryan before walking Dustin Ackley to load the bases.
He escaped by striking out Travyon Robinson with a changeup on the outside corner and Flowers took advantage in the bottom half.
Seattle starter Kevin Millwood (4-11) had retired 10 straight batters before issuing a two-out walk to Danks in the seventh. The veteran righty then endured a delay as the grounds crew worked to maintain the soggy infield.
After the delay, Flowers turned on the second offering from Millwood and sent it over the fence in center field for a 4-3 lead.
In all, Millwood gave up four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.
The Mariners, who had won eight straight games prior to this series, grabbed a 1-0 lead during their first at-bat when Jesus Montero singled home Ackley with two down.
In the second, Alex Rios reached on a fielding error by Ryan, stole second, advanced to third on Alexei Ramirez's infield single, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Danks.
The White Sox went ahead an inning later when Ray Olmedo singled and., with two down, Youkilis tripled on a sinking liner past a diving Eric Thames in right field.
Wells put the Mariners back on top in the fifth when he followed Justin Smoak's leadoff single with a blast into the seats in left.
The White Sox had runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh before the skies opened up again.
"I wish we could have finished it off," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "Our kids are playing so hard right now. They're fighting. We could have won all three of these games, too."
Game Notes
Millwood is a mere 1-8 in 14 career appearances versus the White Sox ... Seattle trails in the season series with the Sox by a count of 8-1 and was swept at home by Chicago back in April ... Seattle was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, while Chicago finished 1-for-4.
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