White Sox rally for 9 in late innings of 11-4 victory over Twins

By Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune –

CHICAGO — Jose Quintana suffered his second rough start of the second half Tuesday night.

But he escaped with no decision because the offense regained its timely hitting and power stroke.

Thanks to Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, the Sox rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to take the lead and then scored five more in the eighth for a 11-4 victory over the Twins before a paid crowd of 34,715 at U.S. Cellular Field.

(PHOTO: Chicago White Sox’s Tyler Flowers’ double eludes Minnesota Twins’ Darin Mastroianni in the 2nd inning at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, July 24, 2012.)

The triumph, coupled with the Tigers loss to the Indians, lifted the Sox to a share of first place in the American League Central.

Konerko and Dunn each hit their second home run in as many games, with Dunn blasting a two-run, game-tying shot off left-hander Tyler Robertson in the seventh.

In the eighth, the big blows were Dunn’s two-run double and Alexei Ramirez’s two-run homer sandwiched around Alex Rios’ run-scoring single.

Dunn’s homer was his 30th in 97 games this year to become the fourth-fastest Sox player to reach the 30-homer mark in a season. Frank Thomas has the franchise record with his 30th in the Sox’s 81st game in strike-shortened 1994.

Dunn became the fourth left-handed hitter in Sox history to reach the 30-home run mark. Jim Thome accomplished the feat three times (2006-08). Manager Robin Ventura (1996) and Oscar Gamble (1977) also hit at least 30 homers from the left side with the Sox.

Konerko continued his surge with a tie-breaking homer in the fifth and then he extended the seventh-inning rally with a single off Casey Fien. Konerko had four hits in four at-bats to raise his average to .336.

Dayan Viciedo snapped a 4-4 tie with a two-run single with the bases loaded to cap the rally.

Scouts from the Reds, Tigers, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Padres and Dodgers were in attendance.

Quintana appeared to be in control after allowing only one run through the first five innings. But the Twins, who had only three hits entering the sixth, quickly solved him.

Denard Span and Joe Mauer singled up the middle and Josh Willingham followed with a three-run homer over the left field fence to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.

Willingham had a solo home run in the fourth to snap Quintana’s scoreless streak at 12 innings. Quintana allowed five runs in five innings in Kansas City on July 14 but rebounded with eight scoreless innings in Boston on July 19 (no decision).

The Sox played without catcher A.J. Pierzynski, whom the medical staff said experienced a very minor right oblique strain.

Ventura said Pierzynski expressed discomfort during the latter innings of the Sox’s 7-4 victory over the Twins on Monday and characterize his status as day-to-day.

Pierzynski received treatments before Tuesday’s game and wasn’t made available for comment. But Ventura said Pierzynski told him he feels discomfort only when he swings the bat.

Pierzynski leads all AL catchers with 80 games caught and is second in innings caught with 683.

Tyler Flowers, who was batting .154 after July 18, led off the second with a double, his third hit in his last two starts.