Cleveland pitcher helps beat White Sox 3-1
6/6/2010CHICAGO - Austin Kearns had an RBI single in the fourth inning and scored on a balk, and Mitch Talbot pitched seven strong innings to help the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 Saturday night.
For the second straight time this season, Talbot (7-4) outpitched White Sox starter Jake Peavy.
Talbot allowed one run on six hits. He struck out five and walked three.
The rookie right-hander has won all three of his starts against the White Sox with a 1.57 ERA. Talbot held the White Sox to just two runs over seven innings in a win over Peavy on May 25.
Talbot threw his first career complete game in a 6-2 home win over Chicago on April 16.
Russell Branyan added an RBI single off White Sox reliever Matt Thornton in the eighth inning for the Indians, 8-3 against the White Sox this season. The Indians are 13-30 versus all other opponents.
Peavy (4-5) pitched seven inning and allowed two runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked one.
Chris Perez pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five opportunities.
The White Sox are 1-4 on its nine-game stand at home and fell to a season-low nine games under 0.500.
The offensive woes continue for the White Sox, who was beaten 10-1 by Justin Masterson and the Indians on Friday. Masterson snapped an 11-game losing streak and won his first game since Aug. 20.
Peavy was perfect through the first three innings, but was done in with a poor fourth inning. Trevor Crowe and Shin-Soo Choo hit back-to-back singles in the fourth. After a three-hit game on Friday, Kearns followed with a RBI single to left. Juan Pierre had trouble picking up Kearns' ball and Choo tried to take third, but was tagged out while sliding into third. Kearns ended up taking second on the throw. During Branyan's at-bat, Peavy threw a wild pitch, allowing Kearns to move to third. Three pitches later, Peavy made a motion to the mound and stopped, resulting in a balk called by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale to score Kearns.
The White Sox got a run back in the bottom half, Alex Rios led off with an infield hit and stole second. With two outs, Rios scored from second on Ramon Castro's single.
NOTES: The White Sox had its first crowd over 30,000 since Opening Day. The announced attendance was 30,864. … Crowe, playing center, made a diving catch on Rios' ball in the seventh inning. … Travis Hafner broke out of a 0 for 24 slump with a double in the ninth.