White Sox Ground Blue Jays

One bad inning spoiled Kelvim Escobar's dominating performance.

Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer to key a five-run third inning as the Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Friday night.

"He overpowered us," Thomas said. "We were fortunate to get those runs in the third."

Escobar (4-5) allowed five runs, five hits, struck out a season-high nine and walked three in seven innings. Four of the five hits Escobar allowed came in the five-run third.

After Carlos Lee led off with a double, Mark Johnson walked and Ray Durham hit a two-run double. Escobar then walked Jose Valentin, before Thomas homered to left-center to make it 5-0.

"I think the pitch to Thomas wasn't bad," Escobar said. "It was down and in. I threw the ball well. The one inning killed me."

Escobar threw 40 pitches in the third, but he retired the side in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings.

He was throwing all four of his pitches for strikes, but he fell to 0-5 in his career against Chicago.

"I threw two good games against them last season, but they hit me," he said.

Mike Sirotka allowed just two runon seven hits in seven innings for the White Sox. Sirotka (3-3) struck out four and walked two.

Keith Foulke pitched 1 2-3 innings for his sixth save. The Blue Jays had the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth, but Foulke struck out pinch-hitter Darrin Fletcher.

"Foulke is underrated," Fletcher said. "He got two quick strikes with two changeups."

Tony Batista had an RBI groundout in the sixth for Toronto to make it 5-1. Homer Bush added a run-scoring groundout in the seventh, and Carlos Delgado's RBI single in the eighth completed the scoring for Toronto.

Notes