Morning Box Score: Sox Still Alive

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 6, 2008 2:00PM

Unlike their rivals across town, with their backs against the wall the White Sox found a way to extend their best-of-five series beyond the minimum three games by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 at U.S Cellular Field.

The Sox won on the strength of John Danks' pitching and some timely hitting. Danks, who beat the Twins on Tuesday to propel the Sox into the playoffs, pitched 6 2/3 innings of strong baseball. He allowed only one run on five hits until allowing a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh caused manager Ozzie Guillen to call on his bullpen.

Dewayne Wise, whose three-run homer produced most of the Sox's scoring in game 1, again paced the offense on Sunday. After getting drawing a walk to get on base in the third, he stole second and scored on an A.J. Pierzynski single to tie the game at 1-1. One inning later, he doubled down the left field line with the bases loaded to drive in two runs and give the Sox a 4-1 lead.

Facing elimination for the fourth time in a week, the Sox found a way to win and extend their season for at least one more game. Can they do the same on Monday? 17-game winner Gavin Floyd takes the mound against Andy Sonnanstine, with first pitch scheduled for 4:07pm.

AP Photo/M. Spencer Green