As Mark Buehrle was walking through the tunnel to the White Sox clubhouse Friday afternoon, the bus carrying some of the Detroit Tigers arrived at the same time.
Buehrle noticed a certain Tigers player make a throat-slashing gesture to him and laughed when he discovered it was pitcher Jose Lima, who had ripped the Sox left-hander for allegedly harassing him during Lima’s eight-run first inning at Comiskey Park on April 17.
Buehrle kept his mouth shut Friday, opting to let his pitching do all his talking.
He wound up shutting down the Tigers on five hits in a complete-game effort to earn his eighth victory in a 12-1 victory before 14,597 human Popsicles.
The Sox snapped the Tigers’ six-game winning streak and remained in first place in the Central Division.
Four Sox home runs, including three three-run shots from Paul Konerko, Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez, carried the offense in a another laugher. The Sox have scored in double-digits 10 times this year and five times in their last nine victories dating to May 4.
“After those two wins in Boston, now we’re swinging the bats good and pitching good,” Ordonez said.
Buehrle improved to 8-3 and once again leads American League pitchers in victories. Since the start of the 2001 season, Buehrle’s 24 victories are second in the league to Roger Clemens’ 27. It was his first complete game of the season and fifth in his career, including three against the Tigers.
“Maybe I just have their number,” Buehrle said. “I don’t know.”
The Sox have had the Tigers’ number for the last 13 months, improving to 5-1 against Detroit in 2002 and have gone 18-3 since April of last year.
The Sox defense let Buehrle down in the second, when Kenny Lofton misjudged a Shane Halter liner, letting it sail over his head for a triple. After Chris Truby lined out to second, Ray Durham tried to catch Halter napping off third, but threw the ball away for his eighth error, allowing Halter to score.
The cold weather may have flattened out Steve Sparks’ knuckleball because the Sox teed off on him early and often. Mark Johnson’s RBI groundout tied it up in the second, and the Sox scored four in the third on Lofton’s leadoff homer and Konerko’s three-run shot. Thomas added a three-run homer off Sparks in the fifth, Ordonez cranked his off Kris Keller in the eighth.
Buehrle did the rest, becoming the sixth Sox pitcher since 1970 to win eight games before the end of May. The others are Wilbur Wood (8-6 in 1973 and 13-3 in ’74), Jim Kaat (8-2 in ’75), LaMarr Hoyt (9-1 in ’82), Wilson Alvarez (8-0 in ’94) and James Baldwin (8-1 in 2000).
He retired the final 10 batters he faced and threw only 106 pitches.
“[Manager Jerry Manuel] came in and asked me if I wanted to finish,” Buehrle said. “I asked if I have a choice.”
After finishing off the Tigers on Friday, Buehrle is likely to be back on the dugout steps Saturday, keeping his mouth zipped tight.
