White Sox Hit 4 Homers To Beat Devil Rays

CHICAGO (AP) _ Jose Contreras got his first win as a starter in two months and rookie Josh Fields put the White Sox ahead with Chicago's fourth home run of the seventh inning in a 5-4 victory over

Monday, August 27th 2007, 4:00 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Jose Contreras got his first win as a starter in two months and rookie Josh Fields put the White Sox ahead with Chicago's fourth home run of the seventh inning in a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Monday.

Contreras (7-16), who leads the major leagues in losses, had dropped nine straight starts since beating Florida on June 18 and had lost 13 of 14. His lone victory since beating the Marlins was in relief against Cleveland on Aug. 8.

Contreras allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings, improving to 5-0 in his career against Tampa Bay. Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth for his 36th save in 41 chances.

The victory was just the third in 16 games for the White Sox, who were swept four games by Boston last weekend, when they were outscored 46-7.

Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson took a 4-0 lead into the seventh before A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe homered to make it 4-3. It was first time three White Sox batters homered consecutively since Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand and Paul Konerko connected against the Yankees' Randy Johnson on Aug. 21, 2005.

Danny Richar doubled to finish Jackson and, one out later, advanced on Dan Wheeler's wild pitch. Wheeler (0-2) fanned Jerry Owens for the second out, but Fields lined his 17th homer to put Chicago ahead.

Tampa Bay's Delmon Young hit his 10th homer after a leadoff walk to B.J. Upton in the third. The Devil Rays tacked on a run in the fifth Akinori Iwamura's sacrifice fly, and Upton hit an RBI single in the sixth.

Notes: The game was a makeup of a May 26 rainout and was played before thousands of empty seats at U.S. Cellular Field. Announced attendance was 37,030. Entering the game, the Devil Rays and White Sox had the two worst records in the majors. ... Tampa Bay's three-game winning streak was stopped.