Dunn Powers White Sox To 10-6 Win Over Blue Jays
CHICAGO (AP) — Adam Dunn made it seem as if he had no trouble seeing through the dense fog.
Dunn went 4 for 4 with two homers and five RBIs to overcome two home runs and five RBIs by Toronto's Jose Bautista and give the Chicago White Sox a 10-6 victory in a game delayed over an hour because of limited visibility Monday night.
"It was actually pretty tough," Dunn said about the fog. "It was probably a lot tougher for the outfielders.
"It was worse than when it rains. With the lights, it made it really really bright. It was weird."
Dunn hit a three-run home run off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (5-8) in the fourth inning after he hit a solo shot in the third.
Dunn, who entered the game with a .165 batting average, hit home runs that were estimated at 444 and 441 feet.
"I don't think I've faced that many (knuckleballers)," Dunn said. "I think I faced Tim Wakefield a few times and a couple other guys.
"If they're right, there's nothing you can do about it," he said. "Hopefully the make a mistake and tonight he made a few."
The game was played from the second inning on in fog which became so thick in the third inning that fly balls became an adventure. Umpires stopped play in the third for 1 hour, 10 minutes and the fog continued to varying degrees even after the break.
"It wasn't being called," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said after his team's third straight win. "It's just you can't predict. It's not like rain.
"It would clear up and all the sudden you couldn't see an outfielder. Very odd," Ventura added. "It was probably worse on the outfielders because they couldn't really see when it was coming off the bat."
Like Dunn, Bautista made it simple for the outfielders by simply sending it well over their heads.
Bautista matched a career high with five RBIs and his first-pitch, first-inning home run with Melky Cabrera on first base gave Toronto a 2-0 lead.
Dunn's homers gave him his 36th career multihomer game and he matched a career high with four hits. He helped the White Sox score 10 runs in a game for the first time this season.
Dylan Axelrod allowed Bautista's two-run shot in the first inning and three-run drive in the fourth, as well as a solo shot by Colby Rasmus in the fifth.
Axelrod lasted four innings and gave up eight hits, six runs and four walks.
At least on the home runs he gave up, Axelrod said he didn't mind the fog.
"I didn't see all those home runs go out," he said. "So that's cool."
Dickey went five innings and allowed seven runs, 10 hits and a walk.
"Unfortunately the knuckleball is tough sometimes," Dickey said. "When it doesn't break, it can just sit there on a tee for guys like Adam Dunn to hit it out of the park, and that's what he did."
Addison Reed pitched the ninth after Jesse Crain pitched out of an eighth-inning jam as the White Sox bullpen threw five scoreless innings. Crain has thrown 25 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings.
"You get that lead and you start mixing and matching with guys," Ventura said. "Jesse again coming in in the situation that he's been coming in, he's been big."
Reliever Nate Jones (2-4) got the victory.
Trailing 2-0, the White Sox rebounded with a five-hit, three-run second inning against Dickey, capped by Alejandro De Aza's two-run, two-out single.
The White Sox loaded the bases with singles by Dunn, Jeff Keppinger and Gordon Beckham.
A sacrifice fly by Hector Gimenez made it 2-1, then De Aza singled to center to score Keppinger and Beckham.
Dunn made it 4-2 with his solo home run in the third prior to the delay.
Then Bautista made it 5-4 for Toronto with his three-run homer in the fourth.
Dunn's second homer made it 7-5 before Rasmus' shot made it 7-6.
The White Sox added three runs in the eighth inning helped by two errors by the Blue Jays. Beckham led off with a single and went to third on an error by Edwin Encarnacion. With one out, he scored on an error by Emilio Bonifacio. Paul Konerko and Dunn added RBI singles later in the inning.
NOTES: Former White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle returned with the Blue Jays to Chicago for the first time this season. Buehrle will not face the team he pitched 12 seasons for in this series. He is 2-4 with a 5.06 ERA and one of the wins came in Toronto against Chicago. Buehrle called it a weird feeling when he had to walk past the White Sox locker room. He was honored with a standing ovation and a video tribute in the first inning. ... Blue Jays manager John Gibbons missed the game due to his son's high school graduation. Bench coach DeMarlo Hale managed the team in his absence. ... Konerko played his 2,116th game, pushing him past Nellie Fox into sole possession of second in White Sox history behind on Luke Appling (2,422). ... Chien-Ming Wang makes his debut with the Blue Jays and will be opposed by Jose Quintana (3-2, 3.95 ERA).
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