Jeromy Burnitz’s 10th-inning RBI single broke up a 5-5 tie and the Milwaukee Brewers added two insurance runs to deal the White Sox their sixth straight loss, 8-5 Monday night in Comiskey Park.
Frank Thomas hit his 32nd and 33rd homers to stake the Sox to a 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Brewers rallied, aided by homers by Jose Valentin and Jeff Cirillo in a four-run sixth inning.
The Sox’s starting lineup contained some names unfamiliar to the Brewers: Jeff Abbott in left, Magglio Ordonez in right, Robert Machado catching, Chad Fonville at short.
Milwaukee manager Phil Garner wasn’t exactly licking his chops.
“We don’t do well against players we don’t know,” he said.
A player the Brewers know well went deep in the first inning. Thomas cracked his 32nd homer of the season and scored behind Abbott, who had singled, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead.
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David Nilsson sustained an ankle injury hitting the left-field fence trying to keep Thomas’ drive in the park. He left the game in the second inning.
The Brewers trimmed the score to 2-1 in the second when Burnitz singled, stole second and scored on Cirillo’s sharp single to left.
Thomas re-established the two-run lead at 3-1 when he led off the third with homer No. 33, a blast measured at 427 feet into the left-field seats.
That lead lasted until the sixth, when Jaime Navarro surrendered two homers, four runs and was pulled from the game amid a chorus of boos with Milwaukee leading 5-3.
Robin Ventura and Mike Cameron walked leading off the sixth, but the Sox scored only one run on Fonville’s RBI single to cut the Brewers’ lead to 5-4. In the seventh, Mike Cameron’s two-out single scored Ordonez to tie the game 5-5.