White Sox Win Behind Contreras

Jose Contreras scattered six hits in six-plus innings, Frank Thomas hit his second three-run home run in as many games and the Chicago White Sox handed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays their eighth consecutive loss, 7-2, Wednesday night at Chicago.

Contreras (4-5), who had not won since June 7, gave up two runs, walked three and struck out one as the White Sox completed the three-game sweep. He left after giving up a leadoff single to Toby Hall in the seventh.

“He’s happy the team won, first of all,� interpreter Ozzie Guillen Jr. said. “He had success tonight. He just felt his fastball was in the zone and he dominated it the way he was supposed to.�

Thomas connected in the fifth to make it 7-1. He has 11 homers in 72 at-bats.

Casey Fossum (3-7) started for Tampa Bay -- as scheduled -- and gave up seven runs and 11 hits in six innings.

After watching the Devil Rays lose for the 10th time after taking a lead into the eighth inning Tuesday night, Manager Lou Piniella vowed to have a reliever pitch the first two innings and then bring in Fossum. By Wednesday afternoon, he had changed his mind.

“It sounds intriguing,� Piniella said before the game. “It could work, and it might not work well. But we won’t know. We’ll let someone else try it first. But I’ll tell you this, I think it has a lot of merit for the minor leagues. [Starters] never get a chance to pitch meaningful innings -- in the seventh, eighth and ninth.

“I think pitch counts rob young pitchers in the minor leagues of that opportunity.�

Boston 7, Texas 4 -- Matt Clement worked into the ninth inning for his 10th victory, and David Ortiz homered and drove in three runs for the Red Sox at Arlington, Texas.

Boston’s Johnny Damon extended his career-high hitting streak to 22 games -- giving him the longest run in the majors this season.

The Red Sox (48-35) enter their four-game series at Baltimore with a four-game lead over the Orioles in the America League East, their largest division lead since June 2002.

The New York Yankees are 4 1/2 games back.

Toronto 8, Oakland 0 -- Ted Lilly (7-8) pitched seven scoreless innings and Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer in the Blue Jays’ five-run eighth at Toronto.

The A’s lost for only the second time in 12 games. They dropped to 41-42 a day after reaching .500 for the first time since May 2.

Kansas City 5, Seattle 1 -- Tony Graffanino homered and tripled and Angel Berroa had three hits for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Detroit 7, Cleveland 3 -- Jeremy Bonderman (11-5) gave up two runs and five hits over eight innings and matched his career high for victories in the Tigers’ victory at Cleveland.