Dodgers Get to Santos, Sox’s Win-Streak Ends

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but Sergio Santos allowed his first run of the year at a very inopportune time Friday night.

Leading 3-2 with two outs in the ninth, Santos’ 20 2-3 scoreless streak came to a screeching halt as Russell Mitchell (say it with me…”WHO?!”) drove a 2-1 pitch down the left field line and over the fence to tie the game at 3-3. Santos was roughed up some more in the 10th inning and was charged with four runs on the night as the Sox lost 6-4 to open the series with the Dodgers.

The White Sox had won 18 of their last 21 interleague games and appeared to be on their way to closing out Phil Humber’s fourth win of the season when the solo shot stunned the crowd.

Adam Dunn’s struggles continued as he went 0 for 5 and watched his average drop below .200 again. He is now 0 for 30 against left-handed pitchers on the season.

Alexei Ramirez, Dunn and Paul Konerko combined to go hitless in 15 at-bats on the night and each came up as the tying run in the 10th, but only a Dunn RBI-groundout could push a run across.

Gordon Beckham silenced his critics for the meantime with a two-run homer in the second inning to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead, but finished 1 for 4 on the night and is still just 3 for his last 26.

Jesse Crain had another stellar performance, inheriting a bases-loaded, one out situation from Matt Thornton. He struck out Juan Castro and got James Loney to ground out to preserve the 3-2 lead.

The White Sox honored Juan Uribe and Jon Garland, members of the 2005 championship team, with a pre-game video. Garland will face his long-time friend Mark Buehrle Saturday. Uribe left the game in the seventh inning with a strained left hip flexor and is unlikely to play the rest of the series.