Thome, Dye go yard as White Sox cruise by A's

White Sox 10, Athletics 4

CHICAGO (AP) -- John Danks welcomed Jim Thome back to the White Sox dugout with open arms.

"I actually gave him a big hug," the rookie left-hander said. "I told him that I missed seeing that."

Thome hit a three-run homer and finished with five RBIs to back a strong outing by Danks and lead the Chicago White Sox to a 10-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Jermaine Dye added a two-run homer for the White Sox, who have scored 28 runs in their last three games.

John Danks (3-4) took advantage of Thome's presence and the White Sox run support, going six innings and allowing three runs -- one earned -- and seven hits. He won his third straight start.

Thome came back to the club on Sunday after missing 18 games with a rib cage injury.

"I took it for granted the first time he was here, before he went to Charlotte [for a rehab assignment]," Danks said.

The White Sox entered with the worst average (.230) in the American League and the fewest runs (168), but broke out in a big way against Colby Lewis, who was called up by Oakland before the game from Triple-A Sacramento.

"The whole lineup really did a heck of a job," Thome said. "The bottom-half of our order really stepped it up. They did a great job for us. The good thing about our lineup is we got guys from the top to the bottom that can do the job."

Lewis (0-1) allowed 10 runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings in his first start since April 17, 2004, with the Texas Rangers.

"They don't call it the big leagues for nothing," Lewis said. "When I did make mistakes, they took advantage of it."

Marco Scutaro was 3-for-4, including a solo homer in the third inning for the A's, who have lost five of seven.

Lewis gave up a single to Thome with two outs in the first inning, and Dye followed with his 10th homer to put the White Sox ahead 2-0.

In the second, Pablo Ozuna reached on an infield single and advanced to second on Rob Mackowiak's single. Alex Cintron followed with a double over the head of Hiram Bocachica in center, driving in two runs. Darin Erstad reached on a walk, and with two outs, Thome drove in Cintron and Erstad on a double to left that gave Chicago a 6-0 lead.

"Every time Jim is in the lineup, there are a lot of people more relaxed," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "These guys know what he brings to the table."

The White Sox scored four more times in the fourth on Erstad's RBI single and Thome's three-run homer into the right-field stands on the first pitch to give Chicago a 10-1 lead. It was Thome's first home run since April 18 against Texas and his sixth of the season.

The 10 earned runs by Lewis tied for the highest by a starting pitcher this season in the majors.

"Colby obviously didn't hit his spots tonight," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "He got a couple of balls out over the plate and they hit him pretty good when he made his mistakes."

Despite the worst batting average in the AL, the White Sox have had at least 10 hits in their last four games, including a season-high 14 on Monday night against Oakland.

"If you really study the game and watch, we have guys that are really ready to bust out," Thome said.

Game notes
Oakland OF Milton Bradley missed his eighth consecutive game with a sore hamstring. ... 3B Joe Crede missed his second game with a sore back. He's listed as day-to-day. ... Oakland 3B Eric Chavez got the day off. ... Dye extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... To make room for Lewis on the 40-man roster, the A's designated catcher Jeremy Brown for assignment.