Canseco homered twice and drove in three runs as the White Sox defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-2, in the rubber game of a three-game interleague series.

It was the 35th career multi-homer game for Canseco, a six-time All-Star and the 1988 American League Most Valuable Player who began the season with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League.

"I've been working very hard on my swing and it's coming around," Canseco said. "Getting consistent at-bats really makes a difference for me. I'm concentrating on letting the ball come to my zone and it's really starting to help."

In search of a power hitter after Frank Thomas went down with a season-ending injury, the White Sox signed Canseco on June 20. He hit his second and third homers of the season Sunday, slugging a two-run blast in the third and a solo shot in the seventh off starter Todd Ritchie (5-9).

Ironically, Canseco's last two-homer game came at Comiskey Park as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on June 14, 1999.

The home runs were more than enough for Sean Lowe (4-1), who pitched well in his second start in place of the injured David Wells. He worked a career-nigh eight innings, allowing one run and six hits. He walked none and struck out one.

Royce Clayton had a bases-clearing triple and Carlos Lee added a two-run homer for the White Sox.

"We caught some breaks today and we made some solid contact up at the plate," Clayton said. "We played very well over the last six weeks. Hopefully that will continue for us in the second half."

Ritchie (5-9) came up way short in an attempt to win his sixth straight start, allowing nine runs -- five earned -- and 12 hits in seven innings.

The Pirates (33-53) closed the first half of the season 20 games under .500.

"We didn't want to end the first half the way we did. Unfortunately, you have games like this and we have three days to forget about it," Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon said. "We didn't make the plays we should have made. Any time that happens against good teams, they take advantage of it."

The White Sox scored four times in the second and twice in the third to take a 6-1 lead.

Paul Konerko and Josh Liefer singled in the second and Sandy Alomar Jr. reached on a throwing error by third baseman Aramis Ramirez. Clayton cleared the bases with a triple to right field and scored on a single by Ray Durham.

Lee homered in the fourth off Ritchie to make it 8-1.