Morris, Pirates Blast ChiSox

After blowing one chance to win the game, Jason Kendall wasn't about to fail a second time.

Kendall snapped an 11th-inning tie with a two-run single and Warren Morris followed with a three-run homer Friday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 in their first-ever visit to Comiskey Park.

The victory was the seventh straight for the Pirates and put them five games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 1992 season.

"I'm glad I got another at-bat to redeem myself after the last one," said Kendall, who struck out swinging in the ninth with runners at first and third and two outs.

Brant Brown added a double, and the Pirates batted around in the 11th before Mike Benjamin grounded out to third, ending the inning. As soon as Morris' homer, his seventh of the season, cleared the right-field fence, the fans started pouring out of Comiskey.

Chicago scored two runs in the bottom half on Brook Fordyce's single with two outs, but it wasn't enough as Ray Durham hit a game-ending grounder.

"We definitely had some opportunities to put the game away and didn't do it," White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. "These types of games are very tough because you have them right there in the palm of your hand and we kind of let it get away from us."

The White Sox spoiled what had been a solid outing for James Baldwin. Baldwin, whose victory last Saturday was his first in seven starts, limited the Pirates to one run and three hits in eight innings.

Marc Wilkins (2-0) allowed two walks in one-third of an inning for the victory. Bill Simas (0-2) gave up five runs and three hits in one-third of an inning.

"They didn't let me down tonight," Baldwin said. "There are 162 games, man."

After Al Martin led off the top of the 11th with a single, Simas hit Ed Sprague and Turner Ward laid down a sacrifice bunt. The White Sox then loaded the bases by intentionally walking Kevin Young.

That broght up Kendall, who lined a 3-2 pitch into left field, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Morris then homered on a 2-0 pitch.

"Warren Morris people don't know about him, but I'm glad we have him," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said.

The White Sox had chances to win the game with the bases loaded in both the ninth and 10th innings, but they couldn't make anything happen.

"As an offense, you get them in sometimes and sometimes you get out," Lamont said. "We did a good job of getting them out tonight."

Pittsburgh's offense was stuck in neutral most of the night, but a couple of hits in the sixth was all the Pirates needed to stay in the game. Martin doubled to left field with two outs and Sprague hit an RBI double that tied the game at 1.

Before that, Baldwin had a firm grip on Pittsburgh. After Ward's double in the first, Baldwin retired the next seven batters. He walked Sprague leading off the fourth, then retired another seven batters before Martin's double.

Chicago got a run in the fourth when Frank Thomas scored on Carlos Lee's groundout.

"We didn't come up with the quality at-bats you'd like to see in that situation and it kind of got away from us," Manuel said.

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