What a difference 6 days makes for Jose Contreras.

Last Saturday at Wrigley Field, Contreras gave up 9 runs in the 4th inning en route to a 11-7 loss. But today, Contreras got plenty of run support during a 7-run 3rd inning which lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 10-3 over the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon from U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox were able to take the lead for good in the bottom of the 1st inning after Orlando Cabrera’s lead-off single against Cubs starter Ryan Dempster.

Cabrera was then able to advance to 2nd base on A.J. Pierzynski’s flyout to Eric Patterson in left field & scored on Carlos Quentin’s RBI single, which gave the White Sox a 1-o lead.

The Cubs’ best scoring chance of the day came in the top of the 3rd inning after Ronny Cedeno hit a 1-out single off White Sox starter Jose Contreras.

Kosuke Fukudome & Eric Patterson then drew back-to-back walks to load up the bases with 2 outs for Derrek Lee.

Lee ended the scoring threat by hitting into an inning-ending doubleplay.

The White Sox then erupted in the bottom of the 3rd inning for a 7-run tally, which started with Orlando Cabrera’s 1-out double off Dempster.

A.J. Pierzynski then hit an RBI single which scored Cabrera from 2nd base & gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead. Pierzynski was able to advance from 1st to 3rd base on the play thanks to an errant throw to home plate by left fielder Eric Patterson.

Carlos Quentin then followed with an RBI double which scored Pierzynski from 3rd base & gave the White Sox a 3-0 lead.

Jermaine Dye then hit an RBI single to score Quentin from 2nd base & gave the White Sox a 4-0 lead.

After Jim Thome & Joe Crede drew back-to-back walks, Nick Swisher provided the game’s biggest hit with a grand slam (9th of season) to give the White Sox a commanding 8-0 lead.

For Dempster, it was just the 10th home run allowed (2nd grand slam) in over 106 innings of work this season.

The Cubs got 2 runs in the 5th inning on back-to-back homers from Geovany Soto (12th of season) & Mike Fontenot (4th of season) to make it an 8-2 game.

The White Sox scored 1 run in the 6th inning on Jermaine Dye’s 2-out RBI single, which scored A.J. Pierzynski (who hit a 2-out single) from 2nd base to make it a 9-2 Sox lead.

The Cubs scored their 3rd & final run in the 7th inning on Jim Edmonds’ solo homer (8th of season) to make it a 9-3 game.

The White Sox scored their 10th & final run of the game on Jermaine Dye’s 2-out RBI double in the 8th inning to score Carlos Quentin (who hit a 2-out single) from 2nd base.

Jose Contreras (7-6) picks up the win for the White Sox after allowing 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings of work. Contreras did allow 3 home runs, but they were all solo shots.

Ryan Dempster (9-3) takes the loss in his worst start of the season for the Cubs. Dempster allowed 8 runs on 7 hits in just  2 1/3 innings of work.

The Cubs will look to even things up on Saturday afternoon at 2:55 PM cst as rookie righthander Sean Gallagher (3-3, 3.97) will be opposed by White Sox righthander Javier Vazquez (7-6, 4.24).

The Cubs are 0-2 in Gallagher’s 2 previous interleague starts this season & have provided the rookie with just 5 runs of support during those 2 losses.

Saturday will be Gallagher’s first career start against the White Sox.

Vazquez is 2-o in 3 day starts with a 1.64 ERA & is 3-4 in 15 career starts against the Cubs with a 4.92 ERA.

Signing off for now,