Chicago, IL – Jordan Danks hit a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally the Chicago White Sox over the Houston Astros, 4-3, in the second contest of a three-game series.
Erik Bedard (3-10) walked pinch-hitter Jeff Keppinger with one out. Alexei Ramirez singled before a Paul Konerko one-out single up the middle plated Keppinger to get the White Sox within a run. Avisail Garcia singled on an infield pop up to load the bases with two outs. Danks singled to center and brought in Ramriez and pinch-runner Gordon Beckham.
Danks went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Ramirez, Garcia, and Konerko each had two hits for the White Sox who have won nine of their last 11 games.
"When you get the validation of a win it shows that you're hard work is going in the right direction. We've had a lot of games this year where we didn't do anything different and still walked away with a loss," Konerko said.
Jose Quintana tossed 7 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts in his major league leading 16th no-decision of the season. Donnie Veal (2-3) was credited with the win after entering the game in the eighth and striking out Brett Wallace with runners on second and third.
Rookie Paul Clemens gave up one run on four hits with two strikeouts across six innings in his first major league start. Houston has now lost five of its last eight.
"It was an honor and privilege to pitch tonight. I just have to continue to work," said Clemens
Addison Reed gave up a double to Robbie Grossman in the ninth, but L.J. Hoes grounded out to end the game. That secured the 36th save of the season for Reed.
Danks hit a ground-rule double to right-center field to start off the home half of the third. This extended his hitting streak to a career-best nine games. Clemens proceeded to walk Alejandro De Aza to put men on the corners with two outs. Conor Gillaspie lined out to shortstop Jonathan Villar to end the inning.
Jason Castro reached first on a walk in the top of the fourth and was brought home on a Matt Dominguez double that skipped down the right field line.
Ramirez walked to start the home half of the inning, stole second base, took third on a Konerko single, and came home on a single from Garcia.
The Astros took the lead on a Dominguez ground single to left field in the sixth.
A Chris Carter line drive single gave the Astros their third run of the night in the eighth. The hit plated Castro, who walked earlier in the frame.
Game Notes
The Astros have won nine of last 13 games against White Sox dating back to 2006 ... Grossman extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
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