Never did Cox look so smart after the throw from right fielder Seth Smith skipped past catcher Chris Iannetta that enabled Quentin to score the go-ahead in the top of the ninth to give the Sox a 3-2 victory over the Rockies.
"Believe me, there was a little question about it," Cox said after the Sox (39-42) snapped a two-game losing streak to cut their deficit to four games in the AL Central race. "(Smith) was coming in, he was going to his left, he's a left-handed thrower and he's going to have to take a split second to get his feet right.
"Shoot, it's the ninth inning and that makes the second out, so let's make it happen and hopefully the throw is offline a tad. And the more you practice, the luckier you get."
There was plenty of uncertainty after Mark Buehrle's 2-0 lead vanished on home runs by Jason Giambi and Ty Wigginton in the sixth and seventh innings, and then the Sox needed second baseman Gordon Beckham to quickly start a double play with the bases loaded to get out of a jam in the eighth.
There were signs of desperation as early as the third, when the Sox brought the infield in after Gonzalez hit a triple with one out. The move paid off as shortstop Alexei Ramirez fielded Jonathan Herrera's hard grounder on his knee to prevent Gonzalez from scoring and getting the out at first.
Quentin led off the ninth with a single off Huston Street and advanced to third on Paul Konerko's single. Ramirez struck out to bring up Pierzynski, who leads the Sox with 14 double plays.
"I came off (the third-base bag)," said Quentin, who would have been nailed by at least 20 feet had Iannetta fielded the ball cleanly."It looked like it might flare in and drop. I was slowly going back to the bag, so I was near the bag. (Cox) told me late, but I was able to get back to the bag and go."
The breaks evened out for the Sox after Buehrle doubled but was picked off second and then committed his first error since Sept. 13, 2009, against the Angels — snapping a streak of 51 consecutive errorless starts.
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