CHICAGO -- There were times when the Chicago White Sox thought they were at their low point, only to sink to another level. Maybe now, theyre climbing back. Alex Rios and Tyler Flowers homered, Hector Santiago pitched into the seventh inning and the White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Sunday to salvage a split of their four-game series. Conor Gillaspie made several diving stops at third base and drove in a run, and the White Sox looked like a team that just might be waking up. Theyve won two in a row behind strong starts from Santiago (2-4) and John Danks after dropping 10 of 11 to fall into last place in the AL Central. Their bats are showing some life as well, and maybe theyre emerging from this as a tighter group. "You think you hit rock bottom and theres more to go in some cases," Paul Konerko said. "Sometimes, that can kind of bring the team together. ... There have been some moments where its been so bad that I think (for) guys, it just reinforces how to do it right and to pick up your teammates because sometimes thats all youve got. Really, this year thats all weve had is to treat teammates well and try to be a positive influence. Its not easy when everythings going bad. You just hope that at some point it goes as good as its gone bad." Konerko also realizes, "Were not out of the woods yet." But this was a good step for the White Sox. Flowers tied it 1-all in the third after Coco Crisp homered in the top half. The White Sox grabbed a 3-1 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Gillaspie and an RBI double by Gordon Beckham. Rios chased A.J. Griffin (5-5) with a solo homer in the eighth to make it 4-2. Santiago was simply superb after Danks and Addison Reed combined on a four-hitter Saturday, and the Athletics lost for just the fifth time in 23 games. "This team is not losing any confidence after losing two right here," Oaklands Josh Donaldson said. "Chicago is a real good team and theyve got real good pitching and theyve got some bats in that lineup that can hurt you." In and out of the rotation after opening the season in the bullpen, Santiago got the call with Jake Peavy sidelined by a broken rib and delivered in a big way. The left-hander allowed two runs -- one earned -- and four hits while striking out six and walking three. "When stuff like this happens, you take advantage of it and just run with it," Santiago said. "Were all hoping for Peavy to come back as soon as possible, but for now, Ill enjoy the role." Santiago left to loud cheers with a two-run lead after walking Josh Reddick with one out in the seventh. Matt Lindstrom came on and gave up a bloop single to pinch-hitter John Jaso before Adam Rosales grounded into a force. Matt Thornton then threw wildly to first on a pickoff attempt, allowing Reddick to score and pull Oakland within one, before Crisp popped out. Jesse Crain retired the side in the eighth, giving him 24 straight scoreless innings and 25 appearances in a row without allowing a run. Reed worked the ninth for his 19th save in 20 chances and his second in two days. Griffin allowed seven hits and struck out five while walking one but got little support. The Athletics managed only five hits at the plate, although they might have had more if not for Gillaspie. He dove to his right to rob Donaldson in the third and lunged to his left to take one away from Jed Lowrie in the fifth. Gillaspie did it again in the eighth, diving to his left to rob Yoenis Cespedes. "This is one series," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "Weve been pretty good. You always want to be your best and play your best and the expectations of scoring a bunch of runs every day, the reality is sometimes thats not going to happen." NOTES: OF Chris Young was back in Oaklands lineup as the designated hitter after missing Saturdays game because of an illness. He went 0 for 2. ... The Athletics are finally off on Monday after playing 17 straight days. ... White Sox manager Robin Ventura had some praise for the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night to advance to the NHLs Stanley Cup finals for the first time since winning it all in 2010. "You look at how you pick yourself up," he said. "Last night, late goal, a lot of different things can happen at that point. But they stayed with it. I think Coach Q (Joel Quenneville) has done a great job. Im happy for him." ... Dylan Axelrod (3-4, 3.73 ERA) starts Monday for the White Sox against Toronto knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (5-7, 4.66). Cheap Atlanta Braves Jerseys China . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Cheap Baseball Store . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. http://www.cheapbaseballchina.com/ . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. Wholesale Baseball Gear . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Former NRL star Matt Cooper has revealed hes been fighting a battle against an addiction to painkillers since retiring from St George Illawarra in 2011.Cooper, who played 243 matches for the Dragons in addition to representing NSW and Australia, checked into a private hospital last month to beat a year-long struggle with Endone.The 37-year-old told News Corp he feared he would die in his sleep and broke down sobbing while holding his daughters hand as he came to grips with his problem.It was a cocktail of prescription meds, painkillers, said Cooper.I was like, Im taking too many pills here. There were times there I was like, Im not going to wake up.I Googled how people die from this drug and they just stop breathing. That is when I realised I had to tell my wife. You can only hold a secret for so long and I was just getting tired.The night before I went in, I was sitting on the floor of my daughters bedroom holding her hand for an hour just crying because I thought tonighht is the night I am not going to wake up.ddddddddddddCoopers addiction to painkillers started about a year ago after helping his father-in-law work with a jackhammer, triggering an old neck injury.Surgery was going to be too risky of being paralysed. Ive seen some guys get operations where they come out and they cant even move their arm and it was a simple operation, he said.For 10 months I didnt do any training because I couldnt as my neck was too sore. I was sitting watching TV and pretty much not doing too much because I was in too much pain.It was a downward spiral from there.My doctor said I am lucky to be alive because of how much I was taking. You start with it and then your body gets used to it so you need to double it and it gets used to it again and you double that.I got to the point where it wasnt working. My doctor was blown away. ' ' '