Sox bats wake up in 15-3 romp of Tigers

 

Hours after White Sox general manager Kenny Williams spoke about the need to make changes, he saw something new — a rare offensive outburst by his team.Ramon Castro and Brent Lillibridge hit three-run homers and the Sox, after critical comments by Williams, routed the Detroit Tigers 15-3 on Wednesday night.The White Sox finished with 16 hits in their highest-scoring game of the season and improved to 25-33. They began the day with the second-worst batting average in the AL at .241. Before the game, Williams said: “Some changes need to take place. I don’t know what and I don’t know when but some changes need to take place.” Castro connected in a seven-run fourth inning and Lillibridge’s pinch-hit shot came in a seven-run eighth. Alexei Ramirez also hit a home run and Omar Vizquel had three hits and drove in three runs.Vizquel passed Lou Gehrig for 55th place on the all-time career hits list. Vizquel has 2,723 lifetime hits, two more than Gehrig.Freddy Garcia (6-3) improved to 18-6 lifetime against the Tigers. He allowed three runs and scattered seven hits. Miguel Cabrera hit a solo shot in the sixth inning for the Tigers and Brennan Boesch hit a home run in his second successive game.After going 17-9 in 2006, Garcia won only a total of five games the next three seasons and needed surgery on his right shoulder.But Garcia, who came out of spring training as the No. 5 starter, has become the most consistent pitcher in the rotation.Rick Porcello (4-6) allowed a season-high eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season.After the game, Tigers manager Jim Leyland was concerned about Porcello.The announced crowd of 21,959 was keeping close tabs of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. The crowd cheered after every Blackhawks goal and several hundred fans stayed after the game to watch on the videoboard as the Hawks won the title in overtime.Trailing 1-0, Ramirez tied the game in the third inning with a leadoff home run. It was his sixth of the season.The White Sox scored a season-high seven runs and had eight hits in the fourth inning.Castro and Pierre had RBI singles in the eighth inning and Vizquel added a two-run double.

NOTES—Magglio Ordonez was out of the Detroit lineup for the second successive game with soreness in his left side…..Gordon Beckham ended a streak of 112 at-bats without an extra-base hit with a double…..After the game, the Tigers placed pitcher Ryan Perry on the disabled list retroactive to June 7 with right shoulder tendinitis. Leyland said they will be purchasing the contract of pitcher Enrique Gonzalez from Triple-A Toledo on Thursday.