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No ’05 magic from Garcia

Losing the momentum of a three-run lead Tuesday night mirrored the recent fortunes of the White Sox.

As Kansas City rallied against 2005 World Series hero Freddy Garcia on the way to a 5-4 victory, Detroit expanded its lead over the Sox to three games in the American League Central with a comeback triumph over Seattle.

“Where we’re at, we’re in a good spot,” said Paul Konerko, who snapped out of an 0-for-23 slump with a single and home run. “But you don’t want to get worse.”

The Sox failed to hold a lead and paid the price as their failure to extend a winning streak cost them in the standings.

“It seems like we never get over that hump,” Konerko said of the Sox, who haven’t won more than three consecutive games since June 27-July 3 and are 14-14 in August.

After losing the lead in the fifth, the Sox never recovered as relievers Robinson Tejada and Joakim Soria retired the final 11 Sox batters. Konerko flied out to the wall in right with one out in the ninth.

“We have our own problems,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of following Detroit’s results. “And we have to resolve our own problems [before] looking at someone else.”

Guillen and Konerko thought Garcia pitched well in his first major-league start since Sept. 29, 2008, after battling shoulder problems.

But Garcia failed to hold a 4-1 lead after three innings and was pulled after Billy Butler’s RBI single tied the game with one out in the fifth.

The loss puts more pressure on Jose Contreras, who is 0-4 with a 7.62 ERA in his last six starts. He’ll take the mound in Wednesday’s series finale against Royals ace Zack Greinke.

Garcia had his fastball clocked in the high 80-m.p.h. range and relied on finesse to get through the first three innings.

“I’m disappointed we scored four runs and I couldn’t hold the lead,” said Garcia, who added he should have relied more on his fastball.

The Sox’s misfortunes extended to the base paths despite drawing five walks against Kansas City starter Gil Meche.

In the second, Alberto Callaspo dropped a pop-up. But Alexei Ramirez already had rounded first and eventually was caught in a rundown for the second out of the inning. The Sox went on to load the bases, but Jermaine Dye grounded into a force play.

A promising rally in the fifth was wiped out when Willie Bloomquist caught Ramirez’s shallow fly and threw home to nail Carlos Quentin easily for the first two outs of the inning. Quentin’s attempt to score was a questionable decision given that he missed seven weeks because of plantar fasciitis and has a sore right knee.

“You have to ask my third-base coach (Jeff Cox),” Guillen said. “I respect what he was thinking because that’s not an easy position to be in.”

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Big number

5.82

Freddy Garcia’s ERA in 15 starts since leaving the White Sox after the 2006 season.

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mgonzales@tribune.com

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