White Sox follow up no-hitter with win

The Chicago White rode the momentum of Mark Buehrle's no-hitter to another victory. Joe Crede hit a go-ahead single in a three-run eighth inning, leading the White Sox over the Texas Rangers 6-4 Thursday night.

A day after Buehrle pitched the White Sox's first no-hitter since 1991, Javier Vazquez and four relievers combined on a five-hitter.

Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said he thought Buehrle's near perfect game was still in the minds of his players.

"I think we were better in the dugout. I think I see more life out of there. I see more guys rooting for each other and now I think they have more confidence. I like what I see right now," Guillen said.

A.J. Pierzynski hit a three-run homer in the fourth and Rob Mackowiak had a two-run homer in the eighth inning for the White Sox.

"You can see the energy in the dugout and the clubhouse before the game and it showed on the field tonight," Crede said.

Sammy Sosa hit his 592nd homer, his fourth of the season for the Rangers. Booed during every at-bat, the former Chicago Cubs star also doubled and finished the series 4-for-10 with two homers and four RBIs.

"I came here to win. We played a good game today. It's not about what I do, it's about the team," Sosa said.

With the score 3-all, Jermaine Dye doubled off Scott Feldman (1-1) leading off the eighth and Crede singled with one out. Mackowiak followed with his first home run of the season.

First-year Rangers manager Ron Washington didn't like how he handled the bullpen.

"I think I'll take the loss for the bullpen right there. I second-guess myself. I wanted to bring (C.J.) Wilson in on Mackowiak and I second-guessed myself. I let (Juan) Uribe scare me off of (Wilson) and it ended up hurting us. So I'll take the blame for that," Washington said.

The White Sox are hitting just .219 as a team, but Jim Thome believes Chicago's lineup is too deep to struggle much longer.

"The bottom line is we have a lot of talented hitters. The great thing is when you have a lot of good hitters we're all going to pick each other up," said Thome.

Matt Thornton (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Bobby Jenks closed for his fourth save in five chances, allowing a sacrifice fly to Hank Blalock.

Vazquez gave up three runs and four hits in six-plus innings, and Texas starter Vicente Padilla allowed three runs, four hits and six walks in 6 1-3 innings.

"This pitching staff has done a great job of keeping us in every ballgame. I felt like we had a chance to win most of our games this year because of our pitching staff," Crede said.

Vazquez allowed his first hit in the second, when Sosa homered with one out. Pierzynski's first homer of the season put Chicago ahead.

Michael Young broke an 0-for-18 slide with an RBI double in the sixth and, after Sosa chased Vazquez with a leadoff double in the seventh, Ian Kinsler hit a sacrifice fly off Mike MacDougal.

Notes:@ Chicago DH Jim Thome walked a career-high five times and tied a franchise record. With 1,383 walks, he moved past Tris Speaker (1,381) for 26th place on the career list.