Chicago, IL -- (Sports Network) - Carlos Quentin's push to an out-of-nowhere MVP award continued with his MLB-leading 35th home run, and Chicago's push to an AL Central crown also rolled on with a 13-5 victory over Seattle in the opener of a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox -- a lineup featuring Quentin, Jermaine Dye, Nick Swisher and Jim Thome -- hit four more home runs Monday, increasing their league-leading total to 182 on the season. The lineup also scored 13 runs for the second straight game in their third consecutive victory.

With Minnesota's loss on Monday, Chicago took over the top spot by one game in the division race.

Mark Buehrle (11-10) survived a shaky first frame to go 5 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on 11 hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Dye finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, Orlando Cabrera hit his first home run since June 19th and Quentin scored twice. Alexei Ramirez hit his 13th homer of the campaign off Jarrod Washburn (5-13), who was pounded for eight runs on seven hits with two walks in just 4 1/3 frames.

"I thought Mark was good," said White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen. "He was pretty good tonight for us."

Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and Yuniesky Betancourt added a solo home run for Seattle, losers of four straight.

"If we were pitching better, we wouldn't have to come up with as much offense as we have been wasting. We are just not holding anybody down right now," said Seattle manager Jim Riggleman.

The Mariners jumped on Buehrle with a three-spot in the top of the first. Suzuki singled and Raul Ibanez walked with one out before an Adrian Beltre groundout. Jose Lopez came through in the clutch with a two-run base hit, and came around to plate the third tally of the inning on Wladimir Balentien's double.

Chicago responded with three runs in the bottom of the second. Dye doubled and scored on Paul Konerko's single in front of Swisher's 18th home run of the season.

Seattle took the lead in the fifth on three straight singles by Suzuki, Miguel Cairo and Ibanez, but Buehrle bared down to work out of a first-and-third, no- out jam. Beltre struck out, Lopez lined out and Kenji Johjima popped out after Balentien worked a walk to fill the bases.

Chicago took the momentum to the bottom of the frame and put up six runs to blow the game open. Juan Uribe walked in front of Cabrera's home run to left. A.J. Pierzynski singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on Quentin's single. Dye then chased Washburn with a two-run double, but Miguel Batista walked Thome and hit Konerko before Swisher plated a runner with a base hit. Ramirez followed suit with a run-scoring hit to center.

Betancourt hit a solo home run for a 9-5 game in the sixth, but Ramirez put hopes of a comeback away with his three-run shot in the seventh. Quentin hit a solo long ball in the eighth to round out the scoring.

Game Notes

Dye pushed his average for the season to .301...Quentin has 96 RBI on the campaign...Seattle dropped to 1-5 on its eight-game road trip and fell to 22-40 on the road this season...Attendance 39,002.