Dye, Uribe homer to help Danks, White Sox top Twins

CHICAGO (AP) -- Juan Uribe's homer put the White Sox ahead and his old-fashioned hard slide that busted up a double play had his teammates and manager buzzing.

Jermaine Dye homered for the third straight game and Uribe added a two-run drive in the fifth to help struggling Chicago beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on Thursday.

"This kid will take the ugliest swing and the ugliest at-bat," manager Ozzie Guillen said of Uribe. "We've seen that for four, five years. Sometimes you get upset and you scratch your head. You ask how this kid plays at the big-league level and then all of a sudden a couple of days later, he's unbelievable.

"I think the best thing he did today was when he broke up the double play," Guillen said.

Dye's leadoff homer in the fifth cut Minnesota's lead to 2-1. Joe Crede doubled with one out and Uribe, batting just .191 this season, went deep to put the White Sox in front.

Chicago tacked on one in the seventh and two in the eighth, highlighted by Uribe's heady play on the basepaths.

With the bases loaded in the eighth, Toby Hall hit a grounder to third that looked like an inning-ending double play. But Uribe slid hard to take out second baseman Brendan Harris and prevent a relay to first as Dye scored from third to make it 5-2.

"I think it's a good slide. I got to help my team," Uribe said.

"I was the first one to jump out of my seat," Guillen said. "It's something we are missing, not just the White Sox but baseball. ... It was the way I grew up watching baseball, Don Baylor and all those guys sliding into second base trying to get you. Now you slide into second base and you get dirty and you are a bad guy."

John Danks (3-3) made it through five innings, giving up six hits and two runs, and Chicago won for just the second time in nine games.

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire returned after missing five games following the death of his brother, but his first game back was an abbreviated one. He was ejected for the 37th time in his career and first time this season in the sixth inning by plate umpire Doug Eddings after a double steal by the White Sox.

With Jim Thome at first and Carlos Quentin at second, Paul Konerko had a check swing on a 3-1 pitch. Konerko started to take off a leg guard and head to first with a walk, but on appeal to first, the pitch from Matt Guerrier was ruled a strike.

Quentin and Thome moved up a base when there was no immediate call from Eddings on the pitch. And after first base umpire Ted Barrett ruled a strike on Konerko, Quentin and Thome were credited with a double steal. Guerrier ran to second to try to tag out Thome but he was already on the base.

Gardenhire came of the dugout and moments later was ejected by Eddings. Gardenhire said Eddings waited too long to check with Barrett about Konerko's swing.

"He waited and waited and waited and waited and then he finally asked," Gardenhire said. "Yes, he did swing. Well now, you have all kinds of commotion and they go running."

Gardenhire said he was told by Eddings that he didn't check immediately because catcher Joe Mauer was blocking him.

"He [Eddings] interpreted me telling him he screwed the thing up," Gardenhire said. "That was the interpretation. That's why I ended up in here."

Twins starter Kevin Slowey (0-2), who came off the disabled list Wednesday (biceps strain) and made his first start since April 3, allowed three runs and four hits in five innings.

Quentin had an RBI single in the seventh and Crede scored on third baseman Matt Tolbert's throwing error in the eighth.

The Twins scored two in the fifth as Tolbert and Mauer delivered two-out RBI singles.

Game notes
Twins second baseman Nick Punto was a late scratch because of a cramp in his left hamstring and was replaced by Harris. ... The White Sox, who were 0-6 on their last road trip before going 2-1 in their brief homestand with the Twins, now head out on a 10-game road trip to Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. ... The double steal gave Thome his first stolen base since Sept. 25, 2002. ... Twins reliever Pat Neshek was removed in the eighth with a right elbow strain after throwing two pitches to Crede, the fourth batter he faced. "I felt something tweak and the trainers came out and we just wanted to play it safe. We wanted to make sure that nothing bad would happen," Neshek said, adding he will be examined Friday. ... Chicago reliever Octavio Dotel allowed one hit in two innings and had five consecutive strikeouts.