Pinch-hitter Scott Sizemore connected for a three-run homer in the eighth inning Saturday, lifting Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers over the White Sox 6-3. The Sox lost their fifth in a row and dropped 10 games behind Minnesota in the AL Central. The Twins’ magic number was cut to five.Verlander (17-8) pitched a six-hitter and struck out eight. He struggled in only one inning, giving up three runs in the fifth.Sizemore, batting for starting second baseman Will Rhymes, hit a tiebreaking home run with two outs. Reliever Sergio Santos (2-1) gave up two singles in the eighth before Sizemore homered off Chris Sale.

The White Sox continued their current slide that has taken them out of the A.L.Central race,but the most expensive singles hitter(almost $4 million for six weeks)finally got a homer(and extra base hit and RBI). Max Scherzer struck out 11 in eight innings and Alex Avila hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh to lead the Tigers to a 9-2 victory over the all but finished White Sox on Friday.Austin Jackson had a two-run homer and Jhonny Peralta had an RBI single in a six-run seventh inning for the Tigers, who won for the second time in six games. Peralta finished 2 for 4 with two RBI.Scherzer (11-10) allowed two hits — solo homers to Manny Ramirez and Brent Morel. After giving up Morel’s in the fifth, Scherzer settled down to retire 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.Scherzer was acquired last December in a three-way trade that sent Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees, Edwin Jackson to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Phil Coke and Austin Jackson to the Tigers.The trade has certainly paid off for the Tigers thanks to emergence of Austin Jackson and Scherzer. Scherzer dropped his ERA to 3.54 and Jackson is hitting over .300 in the leadoff spot.After a devastating three-game sweep to Minnesota, the Sox continued to fade in the AL Central by losing their 5th straight game and eighth of 10.Ramirez snapped an 84 at-bat homerless streak in the fourth inning with his first homer since June 19 at Boston while a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was Ramirez’s first extra base hit since the White Sox acquired him off waivers Aug. 30.The Tigers didn’t get their first hit off Edwin Jackson (3-2) until there were two outs in the sixth inning. But it quickly unraveled for Jackson an inning later, who started to experience cramps in his right calf during his warmup pitches before the seventh inning. Jackson was visited by busy trainer Herm Schneider during his warm up and insisted to stay in game.Pitching with a 2-0 lead in the seventh, Jackson allowed a single to Miguel Cabrera with one out. Cabrera advanced to third on Don Kelly’s single. During Ryan Raburn’s at-bat, Cabrera scored on Jackson’s wild pitch and Kelly went to second. After walking Raburn, Jackson’s night ended after giving up an RBI single to Peralta to tie the game.Jackson said he did feel the affects of the cramps in the seventh.Scott Linebrink relieved Jackson and struck out Brandon Inge, but Avila tagged Linebrink for a double to score Raburn and Peralta, giving the Tigers a 4-2 lead. Jackson ended Linebrink’s night with his fourth home run of the season to make it 6-2.Jackson pitched 6 1-3 innings, allowing four runs and four hits.Peralta and Inge hit consecutive RBI doubles in the ninth and Will Rhymes added a sacrifice fly.Morel gave Jackson and the White Sox an insurance run in the fifth inning with his second home run of the season.With two outs in the sixth, Jackson hit a slow bouncer to shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who slightly bobbled the ball allowing Jackson to just beat Ramirez’s throw at first for the Tigers’ first hit of the game.With two outs in the fourth, Ramirez ended his home run drought, hitting Scherzer’s 1-1 changeup into the left-field stands. It was ninth home run of the season and 555th of his career.After the game, Leyland said Phil Coke will take over the closer duties as Jose Valverde deals with unspecified issues. Leyland refused to get into specifics regarding Valverde.

NOTES—One night after getting hit in the face by a pitch from Twins starter Carl Pavano, Paul Konerko had the night off. Konerko was sporting a fat lip on Friday. A.J. Pierzynski and Omar Vizquel also had the night off. … White Sox RHP Lucas Harrell will start in place of Freddy Garcia (back) on Saturday.

MIAMI — Ryan Dempster pitched seven crisp innings and the Cubs beat the Florida Marlins 2-0 on Friday night.Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto each hit an RBI double for the Cubs, who matched their season best with their fourth consecutive victory.Carlos Marmol worked out a jam in the ninth to earn his 32nd save in 37 chances, completing the five-hitter. Florida put two runners on with no outs before Marmol retired the next three batters, with shortstop Starlin Castro making a diving catch in short left field to rob Logan Morrison and end the game.Dempster (14-10) allowed three hits and walked three en route to his fifth consecutive road victory. He finished with 123 pitches.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE LIVE: WEEKDAYS AT 5:30PM

GROBBER is scheduled to appear on Comcast Sports Net Chicago’s CHICAGO TRIBUNE LIVE this coming Wednesday afternoon at 5:30pm with host David Kaplan. The remainder of the panal will be posted here early this coming week.

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CPS Sports Edition

As always, Les joins host Kenny McReynolds and the Chicago Public League’s Calvin Davis on CPS SPORTS EDITION Saturday morning at 7am to talk about the Bears,Sox,Cubs and many other Chicago sports subjects during the six minute segment WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Dominant since the All-Star break and running away with the AL Central title, the Minnesota Twins can breathe a little easier.They’ll wait to uncork the champagne, though. “Cart before the horse,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’re not going to mess with that.” Delmon Young hit his 18th homer, Carl Pavano got his 17th win and the Twins beat the fading White Sox 8-5 to complete the three-game sweep Thursday night.Paul Konerko hit a solo shot in the third against Pavano (17-11) after being drilled in the face by a pitch in the first inning that left him with a swollen lip. A.J. Pierzynski and Alexei Ramirez also went deep, but the Twins walked away with their 11th win in 12 games. They went 13-5 against the White Sox this season and lead them by nine in the AL Central with 16 games to play as they try to lock down their sixth division title in 10 years. Their magic number is eight. They’re a major league-leading 42-16 since the All-Star break and are challenging Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees for the best record. “We’re capable of that. We knew we were and the funny part of it is — I don’t know if you guys remember the stretch going into the All-Star break,” Pavano said, referring to a 3-7 run that left them 3½ games off the lead. “That was the flip side of consistency.” This looked like it would be an easy win for the Twins after Young capped a three-run fifth with a two-run homer off Mark Buehrle (12-11) that made it 6-2. Instead, the White Sox answered by sending up nine batters while scoring three in the sixth and chasing Pavano. Even so, they walked away with their seventh loss in nine games. “I think everybody knew we had to sweep them and not get swept,” Buehrle said. “Obviously they came in and kicked our butt every which way.” Pierzynski and Alexei Ramirez started the sixth with back-to-back homers, only the third time the White Sox have done that this season, and Brent Morel followed with a double to the right-field corner.Jose Mijares came in for Pavano and Morel got caught in a rundown on a grounder to the left side by Juan Pierre, who reached second on the play and then stole third. Omar Vizquel walked, putting runners on the corners, before Alex Rios drove in Pierre with a force against Matt Guerrier that made it 6-5.Konerko then walked with the crowd chanting “Paulie! Paulie!” So did Manny Ramirez to load the bases before Carlos Quentin ended the inning with a fly to center.The White Sox had runners on first and second in the seventh after Brian Fuentes hit Juan Pierre, leading to an animated discussion between manager Ozzie Guillen and plate umpire Jerry Crawford. Both teams had been warned after Buehrle hit Michael Cuddyer with the first pitch of the second inning, but there were no ejections.It was a rough night for both starters with Buehrle giving up six runs and eight hits in five innings. He has not won since beating Minnesota on Aug. 19. Pavano wasn’t much better but moved within one win of the career high he set with Florida in 2004, even though he gave up eight hits and five runs in five-plus innings.There was a big scare in the first when with a runner on and two out, he nailed Konerko with a pitche between the lip and nose.The White Sox slugger was tended to for several minutes by trainer Herm Schneider before trotting to first as fans shouted “Paulie! Paulie!” Ramirez walked to load the bases before Carlos Quentin popped out to end the inning. “We all felt terrible about it,” Gardenhire said. “They did what they had to do.” Buehrle responded by plunking Cuddyer in the left shoulder, and the Twins wound up scoring three in the second. “When I’m told to do something I try to go out there and do it to the best of my ability,” Buehrle said. “Obviously you got to protect your guys.”

NOTES—The White Sox held Gordon Beckham out of the lineup because of a lingering hand problem, and Guillen said they’ll likely shut him down for a few games. With Beckham out, Omar Vizquel started at second and Brent Morel at third…..The Twins decided to go with Joe Mauer behind the plate rather than Drew Butera, who had caught 12 straight starts by Pavano…..Jason Kubel was out of the lineup after he left Wednesday’s game because of soreness in his left wrist.

As they chase their sixth AL Central title in the last 10 seasons, the formula has not changed for Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins.Mauer had three hits, including a three-run homer, and the Twins took a commanding eight-game lead in the division with a 9-3 victory over the White Sox on Wednesday night.With 17 games left for both teams, Minnesota has basically secured the division barring an epic collapse. The Twins’ magic number to win the Central is 10.Twins starter Brian Duensing (9-2) pitched six innings, allowing two runs while scattering nine hits. He struck out four and walked one. The left-hander, who was promoted to the rotation in late July, is 6-1 as a starter.The Twins have won 10 of 11 and have baseball’s best record since the All-Star break at 41-16. They improved to 6-2 in Chicago.Duensing and some of his teammates have started to keep track of the magic number.Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Duensing more than solidified a spot in the rotation.Mauer is 15 for 27 with four doubles and two home runs at US Cellular Field this season and is 30 for 66 overall for a .455 average against the White Sox.Carlos Quentin hit a two-run homer in the sixth for the White Sox, who dropped to 5-12 against the Twins with one game left between the teams.White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (10-13) was tagged for six runs and nine hits. He struck out four and walked two.With two outs in the fifth, Denard Span singled and stole second, Orlando Hudson followed with an infield single. Then on a 1-0 pitch, Mauer broke a scoreless tie with a three-run shot to right field. It was Mauer’s ninth of the season.Minnesota added insurance runs against Floyd in the sixth. Delmon Young had a sacrifice fly and J.J. Hardy added an RBI single to chase Floyd. Span followed with an infield roller down the third-base line to score Danny Valencia.Former White Sox slugger Jim Thome had a two-run single against reliever Sergio Santos in the seventh and Valencia had a sacrifice fly off Tony Pena to make it 9-2.After squandering several scoring opportunities in Tuesday’s 9-3 loss, the White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the second and failed to scored. Vizquel hit a grounder to Valencia at third, who forced Paul Konerko at the plate and Gordon Beckham ended the inning by flying out to right. In the third, Duensing struck out Konerko with Juan Pierre on third to end the inning and Vizquel hit into an inning-ending double play in the fourth with runners on first and third.Alexei Ramirez tripled in the seventh off Twins reliever Matt Guerrier and scored on Alex Rios’ infield single.Manny Ramirez was 1 for 2 with two walks and Guillen insists he will play him daily.In 12 games, Ramirez is 10 for 37, all singles, and has not driven in a run.

NOTES—Ozzie Guillen said Freddy Garcia will likely miss his scheduled start on Saturday. Garcia missed his start on Sunday with a sore back…..Guillen is hoping to get closer Bobby Jenks (pinched nerve) for the weekend series against Detroit……Twins RF Jason Kubel left the game after the fifth inning with soreness in his left wrist…..Twins closer Matt Capps pitched a scoreless ninth.

ST. LOUIS — Carlos Zambrano decided to try a different approach after he struggled during his pregame bullpen session Wednesday night.Since he was pitching in St. Louis, of course it worked out just fine.Zambrano tossed six innings of two-run ball, Tyler Colvin hit a three-run homer and the Cubs beat Chris Carpenter and the sliding Cardinals 7-3 to complete their first three-game sweep in St. Louis in more than 20 years.Zambrano (9-6) allowed an earned run and four hits, improving to 6-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his past seven starts. He is 7-1 with a 1.29 ERA in 12 career starts in St. Louis, including 6-0 in seven outings at the new Busch Stadium.Zambrano was struggling to get his fastball up to 90 mph before the game, so he decided to improvise. He told pitching coach Larry Rothschild he planned to use his breaking stuff more.It was the Cubs’ first three-game series sweep in St. Louis since June 10-12, 1988. Chicago also has won five consecutive games at the Cardinals for the first time since June 18-Aug. 14, 1983.Colvin connected against Carpenter (15-7) in the Cubs’ four-run seventh inning, becoming the fourth Cub rookie to hit 20 home runs in a season. Teammate Geovany Soto was the last to accomplish the feat, hitting 23 in 2008.Micah Hoffpauir also doubled in a run in the seventh and Aramis Ramirez added a two-run drive in the eighth.Carpenter pitched 6 1/3 innings before leaving with a right hamstring cramp. He was charged with five runs and seven hits.Not even the return of Albert Pujols could help the Cardinals, who fell eight games behind Cincinnati in the NL Central with 18 games left on their schedule. Pujols missed Tuesday’s game with inflammation in his left elbow, but he started Wednesday and went 0 for 2 with two walks and was hit by a pitch.The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but Carlos Marmol struck out Matt Holliday and Colby Rasmus to record his 31st save in 36 chances. He now has 122 strikeouts, tops among all major-league relievers.Holliday, Rasmus and Molina each drove in a run for St. Louis.Something seemed to be bothering Carpenter when the Cubs rallied in the seventh. Ramirez led off with a double to right and went to third on Xavier Nady’s infield single to third. After Alfonso Soriano struck out, Colvin hit a 3-2 off-speed pitch into the right-field stands to make it 4-2.Colvin said Carpenter left the pitch up just enough for him to hit it out.Carpenter then allowed back-to-back doubles to Koyie Hill and pinch-hitter Hoffpauir before he was lifted for Jason Motte.

NOTES—Due to concerns about his workload, the Cardinals decided to have Jaime Garcia skip his next scheduled start Saturday. Garcia, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, is 13-8 with a 2.70 ERA in 163 1/3 innings but has lost his last two decisions…..Zambrano has won five consecutive starts for first time since he won six straight from July 2-30, 2006…..The home run was the 20th allowed by Carpenter; he allowed only seven all last season.

J.J. Hardy hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning and Denard Span had a bases clearing double in the eighth and the Minnesota Twins beat the fading White Sox 9-3 on Tuesday night.Delmon Young homered and Joe Mauer had three hits for the AL Central-leading Twins, who increased their lead to seven games over the second-place White Sox with 18 games left for both teams.The White Sox are 5-11 against the Twins this season.Twins starter Francisco Liriano (14-7) pitched in and out of jams for his eighth straight victory in his last 11 starts. The left-hander allowed three runs and six hits, struck out seven and walked two.White Sox starter John Danks (13-11) allowed four runs and nine hits.Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Young reached after getting hit by a pitch and advanced to second on Danks’ wild pitch. One out later, Danny Valencia singled to center, Young was going to be stopped at third but scored after Alex Rios had the ball come out of his glove. Hardy followed with an RBI double off the wall in left-center to score Valencia from first and give the Twins a 4-3 lead. The White Sox threatened in the seventh. Twins reliever Matt Guerrier was greeted by consecutive singles from Gordon Beckham and Juan Pierre. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire pulled Guerrier for Jesse Crain. Alexei Ramirez moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, then Crain walked Rios to load the bases for Paul Konerko, who was 5 for his last 6 with two home runs. With the White Sox fans on their feet and chanting, “Paulie, Paulie,” Crain struck out Konerko then ended the inning by striking out Manny Ramirez who finished the game 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and one walk. He is 3 for 13 in his last four games. In 12 games with the White Sox, Ramirez has not had an extra base hit and has not driven in a run.The Twins pulled away in the eighth. Jason Kubel had an RBI double off reliever Matt Thornton and Valencia had a bases load walk off reliever J.J. Putz. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Span cleared the bases with a double after Rios misjudged the ball then had the ball knock off his glove and roll to the warning track in center field as the Twins increased its lead to 9-3.Liriano got into trouble in the fifth, Konerko led off with a single and Liriano walked Ramirez and allowed a single to Carlos Quentin to load the bases. A.J. Pierzynski followed with a double play to score Konerko. With Ramirez at third, Liriano got Vizquel to line out to center to minimize the damage.In the fourth inning with one out, Konerko split the right-center gap. Span in center and Kubel in right both converged and the ball got in between them as Kubel tried to make a sliding catch. The ball rolled to the wall and Konerko ended up with his first triple of the season. But Liriano rebounded by striking out Manny Ramirez and Quentin.After the White Sox wasted a scoring opportunity, Young led off the fifth by hitting Danks’ first pitch over the wall in left. Young hit Danks’ hanging breaking ball for his 17th homer of the season. With two outs, Hardy doubled and Span followed with a single up the middle to score Hardy to make it 2-0.After Pierzynski got caught looking on a questionable called third strike, Omar Vizquel doubled down the left-field line. Vizquel then stole third and Gordon Beckham walked. Pierre followed with a comebacker to Liriano, who looked back Vizquel to third and threw to first to get Pierre. With a 3-2 count, Alexei Ramirez singled up the middle to score Vizquel and Beckham.With runners on first and second in the first inning, Liriano struck out Manny Ramirez with a a 97 mph fastball to end the inning.

NOTES—Mauer, 27, collected his 1,000th hit in the first inning. It took him 827 games to accomplish the feat. … White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said closer Bobby Jenks was unavailable because of a pinched nerve and there is no timetable on his return. He last pitched on Sept. 4, at Boston.

ST. LOUIS—Randy Wells got a happy homecoming. Adam Wainwright trudged off the mound believing he deserved better.Wells allowed five hits over eight innings and had two hits and two RBI to help the Cubs deny Wainwright’s bid for a 19th win in a 7-2 victory over the slumping St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.Xavier Nady had three hits and three RBI and Darwin Barney had three hits and an RBI in a 15-hit attack for the Cubs, who have outscored St. Louis 12-3 while taking the first two games of a three-game series. The Cardinals remained seven games behind NL Central-leading Cincinnati with 19 games to go.Wainwright has lost five of his last six starts, a fade that has coincided with the team’s late-season slump.The Cubs 7-8-9 hitters totaled seven hits and three RBI.The Cardinals played without three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols and managed six hits, including an RBI double by Matt Holliday in the fourth and Colby Rasmus’ 22nd homer in the ninth off James Russell.Pujols missed only his second game of the season after getting a cortisone injection on Monday for left elbow tendinitis. Pujols said before the game that he anticipated he would be back in the lineup on Wednesday.Pitching in Busch Stadium was a definite boost for Wells (7-13), who also said his changeup was much improved from recent outings. The right-hander won for only the second time in 10 starts, striking out five with no walks.In nine starts dating to July 28, he had been 1-5 with a 5.88 ERA. Wells has nine hits this season, including three two-hit games, and is batting .188 (9 for 48) overall with three RBI.Wainwright, who had entered with a major league-leading 1.52 home ERA, was tagged for 12 hits — matching his career worst — and five runs in eight innings. Wainwright fell to 11-3 at home.The right-hander had been 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in six starts the last two seasons against the Cubs, and lost for the first time since Sept. 14, 2007, in St. Louis.Wainwright struck out the side in the second but not before giving up two-out RBI singles to Barney and Wells. Marlon Byrd doubled with one out and scored on another two-out hit by Nady in the third.The Cubs opened the fourth with three straight hits including Wells’ run-scoring single, and Blake DeWitt added an RBI single for a 5-1 lead.

NOTES—Jeff Samardzija was the 15th Cubs pitcher to win on Monday…..Wainwright’s previous worst was eight hits on June 9 at Los Angeles…….The last Cardinals pitcher to work eight innings and give up at least 12 hits was Chris Carpenter in a 5-4 victory over Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs on July 19, 2004, at Wrigley Field…..Both games lasted 2 hours and 22 minutes……One of the Cardinals’ hits was wasted when Yadier Molina was easily doubled off first after CF Marlon Byrd caught Pedro Feliz’s liner in the gap. Molina had rounded second…..Holliday is 10 for 23 during a six-game hitting streak.