CHICAGO | Maybe all the White Sox needed was old-fashioned summer weather.

U.S. Cellular Field becomes hitter friendly when the mercury warms. True to form, the Sox bats may have come out of their season-long slumber, the latest portent being against the Oakland Athletics in a 10-4 victory Tuesday.

Jim Thome showed his rib-cage injury was fully healed with five RBIs, while Jermaine Dye continued his late-May power revival. These and other offensive highlights came at the expense of journeyman right-hander Colby Lewis as the Sox moved to a season-high four games over .500 at 23-19.

Making his first start of the season after being recalled from Triple-A, Lewis took it for the team. He gave up 10 runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

The Sox started their pounding of Lewis with Dye's 411-foot, two-run homer (No. 10) into the left-field stands in the first. Dye now has a 10-game hitting streak that includes four homers, five doubles and nine RBIs.

Two-run doubles by Thome and Alex Cintron began to put the game away in the second. Then, in the fourth, Lewis was mercifully pulled at last, after Darin Erstad's RBI single and Thome's three-run homer to right.

Thome's distance classic was his first homer since April 18. He had been disabled April 28 and did not play again until a pinch-hitting appearance Sunday against the Cubs.

"Every time Jim is in the lineup, there are a lot of people who are relaxed," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He makes everyone in the lineup a little bit better."

Ever the team player, Thome tried to deflect such plaudits.

"The bottom line is you look around the lineup top to bottom, we've got a lot of good hitters," he said. "I think we all help each other. It's about complementing each other when one guy maybe isn't swinging that day, maybe the next guy will."

Saddled with the American League's worst batting average (.230) entering the game, the Sox have now scored 28 runs in their last three games. Prior to their 10-run outburst against the Cubs on Sunday, the Sox had not put up a double-digit run total in any game all season.

Beneficiary of the new, brawny offense was left-hander John Danks (3-4), who allowed seven hits and just one earned run in six innings.

"I picked a good night not to have my best control," Danks said. "These guys did it all behind me."