Blue Jays 6, White Sox 5 Sept. 15, 2000 CHICAGO (AP) -- Alex Gonzalez and Darrin Fletcher homered off struggling Chicago rookie Jon Garland and the Toronto Blue Jays continued their strong play at Comiskey Park, beating the White Sox 6-5 Friday night. The Blue Jays, three games behind Cleveland in the AL wild card chase, have won seven of their last nine games at Comiskey, dating back to 1998. Cleveland beat New York 11-1. Chicago's loss left the White Sox's magic number at 11 for clinching the AL Central. "We're looking forward to the day we can wrap this up, but the teams we're playing are trying to get to the same place we are," Charles Johnson said. In a meeting of MVP candidates, Toronto's Carlos Delgado walked twice and was hit by a pitch in an 0-for-1 night while Chicago's Frank Thomas was 0-for-4 with a walk. Toronto drove Garland (3-7) out in the fifth on run-scoring doubles by Brad Fullmer and Fletcher that made it 6-2. Fletcher hit a solo homer in the fourth, his 18th. The 20-year-old Garland, the youngest pitcher in the majors, hasn't made it past the fifth inning in three starts since coming off the disabled list 11 days ago. He gave up six hits, including two homers, and six runs -- four earned -- with five walks. "I think we'll continue to give him (Garland) the opportunity (to pitch) as long as were in the position to do so," manager Jerry Manuel said. "The bases on balls and not having enough enough confidence to keep throwing his curveball hurt him tonight." Garland didn't necessarily agree. "I felt I made some good pitches," he said. "I got behind in the first inning and made some good pitches to get out of it. "I've just got to pick myself up and go back out there." Jose Valentin's two-run homer in the fifth, his 23rd, cut the lead to 6-4 and was Chicago's club-record 199th homer this season. Charles Johnson hit a solo shot, his 28th, off John Frascatore to make it 6-5 in the seventh. Kelvim Escobar (10-14) retired Thomas and Magglio Ordonez with a runner on to end the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth. Billy Koch got three outs for his 33rd save, including Thomas on a strikeout with the tying run on third base. The Blue Jays scored three in the third as Shannon Stewart reached on an error when Sox first baseman Paul Konerko couldn't handle his hard grounder and Gonzalez followed with his 13th homer. Dave Martinez walked, moved up on a grounder and scored on Fullmer's single. Chicago loaded the bases with no outs in the third on two walks and Ordonez's single but managed just one run on Carlos Lee's RBI single as Quantrill got Konerko on a 5-2-3 double play. Johnson had an RBI single for Chicago's first run in the third off starter Steve Trachsel, who lasted just three plus innings. BOX SCORE: TORONTO (6) VS CHI WHITE SOX (5) - FINAL TORONTO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg S Stewart lf 4 1 0 0 1 1 1 .326 A Gonzalez ss 5 1 1 2 0 1 2 .251 Da Martinez rf 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 .290 C Delgado 1b 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 .356 Fullmer dh 4 1 2 2 0 0 3 .298 T Batista 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 .268 Fletcher c 4 1 2 2 0 2 0 .306 Jo Cruz cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .239 Morandini 2b 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .329 Totals 32 6 6 6 5 10 9 BATTING: 2B - Fullmer (27, Garland); Fletcher (16, Garland). HR - A Gonzalez (13, 3rd inning off Garland 1 on, 1 out); Fletcher (18, 4th inning off Garland 0 on, 0 out). RBI - A Gonzalez 2 (60), Fullmer 2 (100), Fletcher 2 (49). 2-out RBI - Fullmer, Fletcher. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Fullmer 1, Jo Cruz 1. GIDP - A Gonzalez, Fullmer. Team LOB - 5. FIELDING: DP: 2 (Morandini-A Gonzalez-C Delgado, T Batista-Fletcher-C Delgado). CHI WHITE SOX ab r h rbi bb so lob avg Durham 2b 5 0 0 0 0 1 3 .275 Jose Valentin ss 3 2 3 2 2 0 0 .291 F Thomas dh 4 0 0 0 1 1 3 .331 M Ordonez rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .322 Ca Lee lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .305 Konerko 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .295 H Perry 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 .299 Singleton cf 3 1 1 0 0 0 2 .254 C Johnson c 4 1 3 2 0 1 1 .301 M Christensen pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 34 5 11 5 4 3 14 BATTING: HR - Jose Valentin (23, 5th inning off Quantrill 1 on, 2 out); C Johnson (28, 7th inning off Frascatore 0 on, 0 out). S - Singleton. RBI - C Johnson 2 (81), Ca Lee (87), Jose Valentin 2 (88). 2-out RBI - Jose Valentin 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - H Perry 2, Singleton 1, M Ordonez 1, F Thomas 1. GIDP - Durham, Konerko. Team LOB - 7. BASERUNNING: SB - Singleton (20, 2nd base off Quantrill/Fletcher). FIELDING: E - Konerko (11, ground ball). DP: 2 (Jose Valentin-Durham-Konerko, Buehrle-Jose Valentin-Konerko). -------------------------------------------------- Toronto - 003 120 000 -- 6 Chi White Sox - 001 120 100 -- 5 -------------------------------------------------- TORONTO ip h r er bb so hr era S Trachsel 3 4 2 2 3 0 0 4.74 Quantrill 2 2 2 2 0 2 1 4.71 Frascatore (H, 13) 1 1/3 3 1 1 1 0 1 5.43 Escobar (W, 10-14) 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.10 Koch (S, 33) 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2.69 CHI WHITE SOX ip h r er bb so hr era Garland (L, 3-7) 4 2/3 6 6 4 5 4 2 6.59 Buehrle 3 1/3 0 0 0 0 4 0 3.83 Barcelo 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.06 S Trachsel pitched to 4 batters in the 4th. WP - Escobar. HBP - C Delgado (by Buehrle). Pitches-strikes: Garland 96-53; Buehrle 43-29; Barcelo 13-9; S Trachsel 67-38; Quantrill 27-15; Frascatore 31-16; Escobar 23-12; Koch 18-13. Ground balls-fly balls: Garland 6-4; Buehrle 4-2; Barcelo 0-1; S Trachsel 4-4; Quantrill 2-2; Frascatore 2-2; Escobar 1-4; Koch 1-1. Batters faced: Garland 25; Buehrle 10; Barcelo 3; S Trachsel 14; Quantrill 7; Frascatore 8; Escobar 5; Koch 5. UMPIRES: HP--Tony Randazzo. 1B--Ed Montague. 2B--Jerry Layne. 3B--Ted Barrett. T--3:18. Att--23,105. Weather: 61 degrees, overcast. Wind: 14 mph, right to left.