John Danks on the mound, at home, facing elimination. Only this time there was room for error.

Dewayne Wise lead the powered-down offense with a double, two RBI and a stolen base as the White Sox scored five runs off of Matt Garza using something that hadn’t been present in the first two games – smallball.

Looking more like the Rays on the bases, the White Sox swiped three bases, usually their two week total, and scored all their runs without the aid of the home run. Danks, coming off his tiebreaker gem against the Minnesota Twins, pitched well enough to hand the ball over to three relievers who then sealed the deal.

Akinori Iwamura (2-5, .385 for the series) got the scoring started off with an infield single that Danks wasn’t able to get over to the base in time. Despite having a first and third, one out situation in the first and runners on second and third in the second, Danks pitched out of both innings with only one run managing to score. He settled down after that, not allowing another runner to second base until the 7th inning homer by B.J. Upton. His ability to hold the Rays runners on was crucial to his quality outing.

The White Sox, however, were all over the bases. After a Garza walked leadoff man Wise in the 3rd inning, the station-to-station White Sox offense kicked in, with Juan Uribe lining out and Orlando Cabrera striking out.

Then something funny happened. On a 2-1 pitch with Pierzynki batting, Wise stole second. This set the tone for the rest of the evening. Pierzynski singled on the next pitch, scoring Wise, trying up the game. Brian Anderson, pinch-running for Griffey in the 6th after a walk, also stole second, keeping out of the double play, and eventually scored on Juan Uribe’s single.

But the Slow Sox reared their ugly head again in the 4th. Jim Thome doubled to leadoff the inning and Paul Konerko walked. Griffey singled to right, but, true to form, Thome didn’t score and the bases were loaded. After a sacrifice fly by Ramirez scored Thome and advanced both Konerko and Griffey, who almost got tagged out at second, Wise promptly smacked a double just over the reach of Evan Longoria, scoring Konerko and Griffey and staking the Sox to a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish.

The Rays added two on Upton’s homer in the 7th. Dotel, Thornton, and Jenks worked 2 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball. Jenks earned his first save of the postseason.

The Sox will send Gavin Floyd (17-8, 3.84; did not face Rays in 2008) up against Andy Sonnanstine (13-9, 4.38; 1-0, 3.00 vs. White Sox in 3 starts) with the Sox hoping to send it back to the Trop for another game.

Sunday’s Pick to Click: Dewayne Wise. Set the tone early with the stolen base. Also went 1-for-2 with a double and 2 RBI.

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