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A day after making two errors in a loss, Julio Lugo helped the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Chicago White Sox.
Lugo drove in two runs and Doug Waechter allowed one run in six innings to lead the Devil Rays to a 4-1 victory Saturday.
On Friday night, the shortstop's throwing error in the seventh inning and fielding error in the 10th led to runs in Tampa Bay's 3-2 loss.
``It feels good to contribute to the team,'' Lugo said. ``Yesterday was a tough one. It's one we should've won.''
Frank Thomas of the White Sox homered for the second straight day after missing three games because of a hamstring injury. With an eighth-inning walk, Thomas moved past Hank Aaron into 21st place on the career list with 1,403. Thomas was almost hit during the at-bat when the ball grazed his bat.
Two innings earlier, Thomas was hit in the left shoulder by a Waechter pitch, Thomas took a step toward the mound, but plate umpire Ed Rapuano quickly got in front of him. While both benches emptied, order quickly was restored.
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``We're trying to crowd him at the plate,'' Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said.
``Frank's swinging the bat well. Make some mistakes on him and he'll make you
pay.''
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen thought Tampa Bay was retaliating after Carl Crawford was hit in the fifth inning by starter Dan Wright. Guillen walked out to the mound and asked Wright if he hit Crawford intentionally.
``I talked to Danny to see if he was hitting this kid on purpose or not,'' Guillen said. ``He said he didn't, but that's part of the game.''
Guillen wasn't surprised when Waechter hit Thomas in the seventh.
``I expect that from Lou as long as (they're) not throwing at people's heads,'' Guillen said. ``Lou has been in this game long enough to know what is going on. I think the second one, yes, he (threw) at him. He might say no, but that's part of the game.
Waechter (1-0), making his first start since Sept. 24, allowed four hits, struck out five and walked none.
``He gave us six really fine innings,'' Piniella said. ``He threw strikes, had the breaking ball, good life on the fastball. It's really nice to see.''
AP - Apr 24, 5:53 pm EDT
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Danny Baez relieved with two runners on and two outs, walked Thomas, then got
Carlos Lee to pop out. Baez finished for his second save.
Wright (0-3) gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings. He has not won in his last 18 starts.
He allowed a single to Crawford starting the game, then retired 11 straight batters before allowing four straight hits with two outs in the fourth.
Rocco Baldelli reached on an infield hit and stole second. Robert Fick followed with another infield hit as first baseman Paul Konerko fielded the ball and threw wildly to Wright at first base. Baldelli came home on the error.
Tino Martinez singled, and Lugo doubled for a 2-0 lead, with Martinez getting thrown out at the plate by shortstop Kelly Dransfeldt, who took the relay from Carlos Lee in left.
Lugo hit an RBI single off Mike Jackson in the sixth, and Aubrey Huff hit arun-scoring single against Neal Cotts in the seventh.
Notes
Chicago RF Magglio Ordonez had the day off. ... Tampa Bay RF Jose Cruz Jr.
also had the day off. He is in a 0-for-22 slump. ... Crawford stole three bases,
tying a Devil Rays' record. Crawford also stole three bases last Aug. 13 against
Baltimore. ... The White Sox have scored just nine runs in their lastfour games.