Morning Box Score: White Sox Extend Winning Streak To Nine, Cubs Can't Topple Giants
By Tim Bearden in News on Jun 2, 2012 2:30PM
The White Sox continue to impress—they've now embarked on their longest winning streak in two years after beating the Seattle Mariners Friday night. Gordon Beckham had his first multi-homer game with the Sox and began the scoring effort with a two-run shot in the first to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. He nailed a solo shot in the fifth, as did Adam Dunn, to increase the lead to 4-0, but it wasn't over there. Seattle rallied late in the game off of Jake Peavy and Matt Thornton to tie the game at 4-4, but an error cost them extra innings. Paul Konerko lined a ball to center field; it was dropped by Michael Saunders and drove in three runs, but no RBI stat for Konerko. The Sox are now 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians for the top spot in the division.
If three words best described the Cubs' season, they would be "peaks and valleys." The Cubs swept the Padres earlier this week to end a 12-game losing streak, but the Giants got the better of them Friday night. Paul Maholm pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight hits and four runs. The Giants had a shutout going until the Cubs had some life blown into them with an Alfonso Soriano three-run homer at the top of the inning. Jeff Baker and Darwin Barney tried to keep the effort alive with singles, but the Cubs left runners in scoring position again, keeping a win just out of reach.