CHICAGO // The Chicago White Sox battled to a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, to stave off elimination in their best-of-five American League Divisional Series. The White Sox rallied for three runs in the fourth inning to give starting pitcher John Danks a lead he would not relinquish in a strong six inning outing by the left-hander. He struck out seven Rays, allowing three runs on seven hits.
The Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen paid tribute to his pitcher's performance. He said: "As soon as the ball came out of his hand, I felt good about it because you could see his stuff was there." Tampa took an early lead through Dioner Navarro's score from third base, but Chicago hit back as a double and a single run from Dewayne Wise, a run-scoring sacrifice fly from Alexei Ramirez and a run from Brian Anderson gave them an advantage they would never lose.
The Rays outfielder BJ Upton narrowed the gap with a two-run home run in the seventh that made it 5-3, but Chicago's relief pitchers held Tampa Bay scoreless the rest of the way to cut their deficit to 2-1 in the series. * Reuters
