CHICAGO - Alex Rios and the Chicago White Sox hit the ball just fine on a chilly Friday night. This time, the pitching let them down.
Rios and Alejandro De Aza homered, but Kendrys Morales hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the 10th inning to lead the Seattle Mariners to an 8-7 victory.
"You never know what can happen," Rios said. "Just because it's cold, you can't say you're not going to score that many runs. It's unpredictable. A lot of things can happen."
Franklin Gutierrez sparked the winning rally when he led off with an infield single. He advanced on Michael Saunders' sacrifice and came home when Morales drove the next pitch from Nate Jones (0-1) down the first-base line.
Jesus Montero then singled home pinch-runner Robert Andino as Seattle earned its fourth win in its last 20 games in Chicago dating to the 2008 season. The Mariners have only 11 wins in their last 44 games against the White Sox overall.
"We don't look at that. We've got a completely different cast of characters here," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "I guarantee none of them know that. What we're trying to do is win series and you get that first win of a series and it goes a long way heading in the right direction."
Gutierrez also homered and drove in three runs for Seattle, which blew a 6-1 lead. Kameron Loe (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the win and Tom Wilhelmsen barely held on for his second save.
Dewayne Wise hit a two-out RBI single for the White Sox in the 10th, leaving runners on the corners. Alexei Ramirez then walked to load the bases, but Tyler Flowers struck out to end the game.
"That's one thing I can say about this team, and the last few years, I felt like every time, no matter what the score is, we somehow, some way grind out at-bats and give ourselves an opportunity to either win it or tie it up," White Sox slugger Adam Dunn said. "We did that tonight. (Wilhelmson) just shut the door."
Ramirez also had two hits for Chicago, which went 8-1 against Seattle last season. Paul Konerko had an RBI single in the fourth for his 2,137th hit with the White Sox, passing Frank Thomas for third on the franchise list.
"Any time you're up there with those names, a guy like Frank who's going to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame guy and was the best hitter this organization has ever seen, to get by him in one category, even if I had more at-bats or played here longer or whatever the case may be, it's still pretty cool because he's one of the greatest hitters that's ever played the game," Konerko said.
The White Sox were hurt by pitcher Jose Quintana's costly error that paved the way for Seattle's five-run fifth inning. With none out and a runner on second, Dustin Ackley hit a grounder to first and Quintana hustled over to cover the bag. The throw from Konerko was a little behind him, but the left-hander tried to grab it with his bare hand and it squirted away.
"I felt that changed the inning for me," Quintana said through a translator. "It kind of (went) the wrong way for me with that error."
The Mariners then strung together five consecutive hits to chase Quintana and open a 6-1 lead. Gutierrez had a two-run double and scored on Saunders' triple. Morales added an RBI single, stopping a 1-for-14 slide.
But the White Sox responded with four runs in the bottom half and another in the seventh. De Aza hit a two-run shot and Rios had a solo drive in the fifth, and Rios' grounder brought home Gordon Beckham with the tying run two innings later.
"We scored some runs and battled back into it on a tough, cold night, but a loss is a loss," Konerko said. "We have to realize there's a lot of good teams in this league and one inning can do the game in, so you've really got to stay on your toes out there."
NOTES: The game-time temperature was 34 degrees. ... White Sox LHP John Danks will pitch in an extended spring training game again on Tuesday. Danks, working his way back from August shoulder surgery, threw five innings of one-run ball on Thursday in Arizona. "Listen, he's ahead of schedule but he needs more time," pitching coach Don Cooper said. "It's a shoulder injury and nobody knows the answer to these things and we're all going to hear on an every five- or six-day basis." ... Mariners ace Felix Hernandez will make his second start on Saturday. The right-hander gave up three hits over 7 2-3 innings in a 2-0 win at Oakland on opening day. He will be opposed by RHP Dylan Axelrod, who will be making his season debut. ... With the short turnaround between games, Konerko likely will get a day off on Saturday. Chicago manager Robin Ventura also said C Hector Gimenez probably will play. ... Wedge said C Kelly Shoppach likely will be in the lineup on Saturday.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap
