ARLINGTON, Texas - Sammy Sosa hit his 606th home run and the Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the bumbling Chicago White Sox with a 5-1 victory Thursday night.
Chicago made four errors in one inning and lost for the 16th time in 19 games - hours after manager Ozzie Guillen reiterated how frustrated he is with his team.
The Rangers, who earlier Thursday exercised their 2009 option on rookie manager Ron Washington's contract, won their season-best fifth straight. Kevin Millwood (9-11) allowed one run in seven innings to win for the second time in six August starts. He struck out six.
Sosa hit his 18th homer of the season in the second and added an RBI single off John Danks, the rookie left-hander who was the Rangers' first-round draft pick in 2003. Sosa also hit one of three balls in the third inning on which third baseman Andy Gonzalez made throwing errors.
Danks (6-13) tied a career high with eight strikeouts over 5 2-3 innings in his long-anticipated first start in his home state - though it came for another team. He gave up six hits and five runs, only two earned.
Jim Thome went 2-for-4 with a homer, the 495th of his career. It was his 23rd of the season and fifth in six games against the Rangers. Thome finished the season series 10-for-15 with 11 walks, and at one point reached base in 16 straight plate appearances.
Not long after Guillen's latest tirade, the White Sox gave up three unearned runs with four errors in the third.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off with a grounder that Gonzalez threw away. Ramon Vazquez then bunted, and got credited with a sacrifice when Danks hit him in the back with the ball for a throwing error.
Gerald Laird had a bunt single, and Gonzalez threw the ball wide of first, allowing two runs to score. Laird came home after Sosa's two-out grounder to Gonzalez led to another error and put the Rangers up 4-1.
Gonzalez played only his eighth game at third. The rookie has been there while the White Sox take a look at Josh Fields as an everyday outfielder.
The Rangers also scored three unearned runs Wednesday night in a 5-4, 11-inning victory - a game in which Sosa tied the score with a pinch-hit RBI double and won it with a sacrifice fly.
Sosa has become a part-time player while the Rangers evaluate several youngsters. The 38-year-old slugger started for only the 11th time in 29 games Thursday, but still leads the team with 78 RBIs.
Laird had a leadoff double in the fifth and scored on Sosa's single for a 5-1 lead.
Danks was the Rangers' top pitching prospect when they traded him for Brandon McCarthy last winter, two days before Christmas.
While the Rangers hadn't anticipated Danks being one of their starters this season, the left-hander won the final spot in the White Sox rotation during spring training. He has lost seven straight decisions in a span of eight starts, but this was only the second time in two starts he didn't give up more than two earned runs.
Notes: For the second day in a row, an afternoon thunderstorm kept the teams from taking batting practice on the field. But the game started on time, just as it did Wednesday. … Rangers LF Frank Catalanotto didn't play, a day after tweaking his groin while running out a double. … The Rangers finished their fifth straight winning homestand, the first time they've done that since 1998.
