GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: CHI WHITE SOX (41-51) at CLEVELAND (55-38)

Buehrle baffles Indians as White Sox win series

<h3>CHI WHITE SOX 5, CLEVELAND 1</h3>CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Mark Buehrle has been worth every pennythus far.


Buehrle pitched into the seventh inning Wednesday afternoon tolead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-1 triumph over the ClevelandIndians.


Paul Konerko belted a two-run homer and Rob Mackowiak had threehits for the struggling White Sox, who improved to 3-4 on their11-game road trip.


But despite losing three of four games in Baltimore beforecoming to Cleveland, the White Sox took two of three from theIndians.


Buehrle (7-5) has been brilliant since signing a four-year,$56 million contract July 8, yielding just three runs over twostarts since inking the deal. He has allowed two earned runs orless in each of his last eight outings.


The lefthanded Buehrle recorded a rare win against theheavy-hitting Indians on Wednesday, allowing one run and 10 hitswith one walk and three strikeouts in 6 1/3 frames. It was hisfirst win over Cleveland since July 16, 2005 - a span of eightstarts. He was 0-3 with a 5.53 ERA in those games.

Although the Indians had a hit in every inning except the<div class="pre">fourth, Buehrle kept them off balance with an assortment of</div>slow breaking pitches while occasionally working in hisfastball.


The Indians finally got to the White Sox ace in the seventh.Franklin Gutierrez led off with a double and scored on GradySizemore's one-out single. Casey Blake's single chased Buehrle,but lefthander Matt Thornton induced Victor Martinez to groundinto an inning-ending double play.


Konerko's homer in the fourth off Jake Westbrook (1-5) gave theWhite Sox a 3-0 lead and capped an 11-pitch at-bat. He fouledoff five pitches on a 3-2 count to keep the at-bat alive.

Konerko's double-play ground ball with the bases loaded in thefirst plated Jerry Owens with Chicago's first run. Since June1, Konerko is batting .318 (48-for-151) with 13 homers and 31RBI.


Westbrook appeared to injure himself when he covered first baseon the double-play ball. He paused behind the mound for severalseconds but stayed in the game.


White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome, who played his first 12seasons with the Indians, led off the fourth with a single andscored on Konerko's home run.


The inning continued on doubles by Mackowiak and Jermaine Dye,making it 4-0. Mackowiak added an RBI single in the eighth offJensen Lewis.


The rough season continued for Westbrook, who allowed four runsand seven hits in six innings. The righthander's only win cameon April 27, and he also was on the disabled with a strainedleft oblique from May 7-June 24.


Cleveland's Ryan Garko extended his hitting streak to 12 gameswith a second-inning single.

 

Buehrle baffles Indians as White Sox win series

<h3>CHI WHITE SOX 5, CLEVELAND 1</h3>CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Mark Buehrle has been worth every pennythus far.


Buehrle pitched into the seventh inning Wednesday afternoon tolead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-1 triumph over the ClevelandIndians.


Paul Konerko belted a two-run homer and Rob Mackowiak had threehits for the struggling White Sox, who improved to 3-4 on their11-game road trip.


But despite losing three of four games in Baltimore beforecoming to Cleveland, the White Sox took two of three from theIndians.


Chicago won, 11-10, in the series opener Monday night beforesquandering a two-run, ninth-inning lead in Tuesday's 6-5 loss.Buehrle, for one, thought the White Sox could have faredbetter.


"I thought we should have won three out of four in Baltimore andwe could have swept here," Buehrle said.


Buehrle (7-5) has been brilliant since signing a four-year, $56million contract July 8, yielding just three runs over twostarts since inking the deal. He has allowed two earned runs orless in each of his last eight outings.


"It doesn't matter if I'm signed or not," Buehrle said. "I haveto finish strong."


"I don't know if (Buehrle) is our savior, but every time hetakes the mound, the expectations are high," Chicago managerOzzie Guillen said. "We know most of the time we'll have a goodgame."


The lefthanded Buehrle recorded a rare win against theheavy-hitting Indians on Wednesday, allowing one run and 10 hitswith one walk and three strikeouts in 6 1/3 frames. It was hisfirst win over Cleveland since July 16, 2005 - a span of eightstarts. He was 0-3 with a 5.53 ERA in those games.

"As good a team as (the Indians) are, a lot of people are goingto struggle against them," Buehrle said.


Although the Indians had a hit in every inning except the<div class="pre">fourth, Buehrle kept them off balance with an assortment of</div>slow breaking pitches while occasionally working in hisfastball.


"Buehrle kept us off track all day long," Indians manager EricWedge said. "We were never able to get anything going againsthim."


The Indians finally got to the White Sox ace in the seventh.Franklin Gutierrez led off with a double and scored on GradySizemore's one-out single. Casey Blake's single chased Buehrle,but lefthander Matt Thornton induced Victor Martinez to groundinto an inning-ending double play.


Konerko's homer in the fourth off Jake Westbrook (1-5) gave theWhite Sox a 3-0 lead and capped an 11-pitch at-bat. He fouledoff five pitches on a 3-2 count to keep the at-bat alive.

"I had one good swing all day," Konerko said. "I got lucky.The rest of the day was terrible."


Konerko's double-play ground ball with the bases loaded in thefirst plated Jerry Owens with Chicago's first run. Since June1, Konerko is batting .318 (48-for-151) with 13 homers and 31RBI.


Westbrook appeared to injure himself when he covered first baseon the double-play ball. He paused behind the mound for severalseconds but stayed in the game.


White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome, who played his first 12seasons with the Indians, led off the fourth with a single andscored on Konerko's home run.


The inning continued on doubles by Mackowiak and Jermaine Dye,making it 4-0. Mackowiak added an RBI single in the eighth offJensen Lewis.


The rough season continued for Westbrook, who allowed four runsand seven hits in six innings. The righthander's only win cameon April 27, and he also was on the disabled with a strainedleft oblique from May 7-June 24.


An Indians spokesman said Westbrook was unavailable for commentbecause the pitcher had to tend to a personal matter.

"I don't want to speak for him," pitching coach Carl Willissaid. "I feel that he's frustrated a bit, and sometimes hemight be trying to do a little too much out there."

Cleveland's Ryan Garko extended his hitting streak to 12 gameswith a second-inning single.