Floyd pitches White Sox back to .500
June 30, 2009
CLEVELAND (AP)—Gavin Floyd(notes) made 95 pitches, some good ones, some bad ones.However, the strike he threw to first mattered most.
Floyd shut out Cleveland on five singles over 7 2-3 innings and made a smartdefensive play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the seventh as the surgingChicago White Sox climbed back to .500 with a 6-3 win Monday night over thefree-falling Indians, who lost for the 11th time in 13 games.
Floyd (6-5), who started the season by losing four of his first sixdecisions, improved to 3-0 in June, 4-1 since May 22 and has a 1.39 ERA in hislast eight starts. The right-hander walked two, struck out five and made thegame’s biggest defensive play while protecting a 2-0 lead.
“Outstanding,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Floyd. “That’s apretty good hitting ballclub and to shut them down was a tremendous job. Thelast three or four starts he has been great.”
In the seventh, the Indians loaded the bases off Floyd on a singlesandwiched by two walks. Ryan Garko(notes) then hit a tapper toward first that dancedalong the white-chalk line. Floyd hustled off the mound, scooped it and fired tofirst in time to retire Garko.
Series at a Glance Chi White Sox 6 Cleveland 3 Mon, Jun 29 – Final Chi White Sox at Cleveland Tue, Jun 30 – 7:05 pm ET Chi White Sox at Cleveland Wed, Jul 1 – 7:05 pm ET
However, plate umpire Scott Barry, recently called up from the minors, ruledit was foul, prompting Guillen to come out and complain. The umpiring crew thenmet for several moments near first before calling Garko out. That set offIndians manager Eric Wedge, who stormed from the dugout and was quickly ejectedby crew chief Tom Hallion.
“They’re supposed to huddle if they’ve got a question about it,” anirritated Wedge said. “I thought the home plate umpire did his job. He had agood view of it, made the call and they reversed it. They shouldn’t havereversed it. Bases loaded, 2-0 game, seventh inning … ridiculous.”
Floyd wasn’t certain what to do when he first went after the ball. He wasworried if he let Garko get too far past him, he wold have a tougher throw.
“I knew I had to pick it up and threw it,” he said. “I took the gamble,picked it up and threw him out. I thought it was on the line. It all workedout.”
Garko was more upset with his swing than the controversial call.
“I’m sure they got it right, whatever,” he said. “Those guys usually getit right. You don’t want to put it in the umpires’ hands. That’s not a very goodswing in that spot. I would just really like to come through right there and itjust didn’t go my way.”
Floyd was lifted in the eighth by Guillen with a runner on and GradySizemore(notes) coming up. Thornton came on and got Sizemore to swing at his firstpitch and lift a harmless fly out to left.
Jermaine Dye(notes) and Gordon Beckham(notes) had RBI singles off Carl Pavano(notes) (6-7) as theWhite Sox won for the 10th time in 14 games.
The last-place Indians have dropped three straight and only avoided theirfifth shutout with a three-run ninth as Shin Soo-Choo homered off Matt Thornton(notes)and Garko hit a two-run, two-out shot off Octavio Dotel(notes).
Newly acquired reliever Chris Perez(notes) melted down in his Cleveland debut. Hehit the first two batters he faced, walked the bases loaded and then clearedthem as Chicago scored four runs in the ninth on a fielder’s choice, an RBIdouble, wild pitch and run-scoring single.
“Obviously, not the best first impression,” said Perez, who also failed tocover first on a potential double play. “Hopefully, the next time will bebetter. I had a mental lapse and it snowballed from there.”
The White Sox got a scare in the ninth when shortstop Alexei Ramirez(notes) wasbeaned by Perez. Ramirez dropped after being struck on the helmet by theright-hander’s fastball. Ramirez was checked by a White Sox trainer before beingassisted from the field.
Perez then hit Dye, not exactly the production the Indians were looking forafter trading third baseman Mark DeRosa(notes) to St. Louis on Saturday.
Ramirez gave a thumbs up that he was fine and expects to play Tuesday.Guillen said Dye is also OK.
The White Sox jumped on Pavano for a run in the first on Dye’s RBI singleand made it 2-0 in the second on Beckham’s run-scoring single.
“It took me a little while to find it and gave them those couple of runs,”Pavano said. “That was enough for Gavin. You’ve got to tip your hat sometimesto the opposing pitcher. He handled a tough lineup and made it look easy.”
NOTES: The Indians are 2-28 when scoring three or fewer runs. … For thefirst time in six games, the White Sox did not make an error. They came in on asloppy slide, having made 17 errors in their previous 11 games. … White Sox DHJim Thome(notes) earned his 1,599th walk in the ninth, tying him with Hall of FamerStan Musial for 12th place on the career list.
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