NewsSox get to Lee early in shortened win
South Siders pound out 17 hits for second straight rout
By Matt O'Donnell / MLB.com
07/01/09 1:09 AM ET
CLEVELAND -- Mother Nature was the only thing that could stop the White Sox dismantling of the Indians. The South Siders defeated the Tribe, 11-4, on Tuesday at Progressive Field after waiting through three rain delays before the game was finally called in the top of the seventh. It was their second blowout of Cleveland in as many nights. Every player got a hit for the Sox, and starter Clayton Richard did enough to hold off the Tribe offense to give Chicago its sixth win in seven games. The White Sox are now a game over .500 for the first time since May 2. And starts like Richard's are a big reason why. Richard -- a reliever through part of the season -- had struggled though his previous two starts and had gone six innings just three times. But manager Ozzie Guillen decided to stick with his 25-year-old, and Richard didn't let him down. Richard went six innings Tuesday, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts. The left-hander threw his first complete game -- albeit rain-shortened -- and even though he gave up four runs, three of those came after he waited through a 30-minute rain delay. "I know we've been talking about going deeper into games, so I figured I'd just go the whole game," Richard said with a smile. "Every start has been a work in progress. Everything we've been doing in bullpen sessions is slowly taking over." Richard got plenty of help from his offense, too. The White Sox racked up 11 runs on 17 hits in the rain-shortened affair. That might not have been surprising on most nights against the last place Indians, but reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee was on the mound. Coming into Tuesday's game, Lee had a sub-three ERA and the fifth lowest ERA at home in the American League (2.21). But not even he could stop the resurgent White Sox offense. Chicago didn't wait long to pounce. Alexei Ramirez walked with one out in the first inning and then scored on a Jermaine Dye double. Paul Konerko then hit his 13th home run to make it 3-0. After A.J. Pierzynski grounded out, center fielder Brian Anderson doubled and later scored on a Gordon Beckham single to extend the White Sox lead to four after just one inning. "We didn't wait around," Konerko said. "Guys were [hitting] early. That's something we haven't done all year is get on the board early. It loosened everyone up." The White Sox stayed loose after the Indians scored a run in the second inning on a Travis Hafner home run. With Pierzynski and Beckham on second and third in the third inning, Chris Getz hit a two-run double to put the South Siders up, 6-1. Lee would come out again in the fourth inning, but not for long. Left fielder Jayson Nix doubled and later scored on Dye's single. That gave the White Sox a 7-1 lead and ended Lee's day. The South Siders roughed up Lee for seven runs on 11 hits in three-plus innings. That broke a string of 47 consecutive starts of five innings or more for Lee. It was the longest active streak in the Majors. "They made him throw pitches over the plate and they took advantage of it," Guillen said. Lee's replacement, Mike Gosling, didn't fare much better. Following a half-hour rain delay in the bottom of the fourth, Beckham and Josh Fields hit solo homers in the fifth to give the White Sox an eight-run lead. Richard came back out after the rain delay, and the Indians tagged him for three runs to get back within five. "When you feel good, and you are throwing the ball well, the last thing you want is a rain delay," Richard said. But the South Siders scored two more runs in the sixth on a Pierzynski RBI double and a Beckham RBI single, and Richard sat the Indians down in order before the game was called in the seventh. "He came back that last inning and was good," Guillen said. "I think he was the best he's been all year."Matt O'Donnell is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
