Pitching and power have carried the bulk of the load during the White Sox’s eight-game winning streak, but a few more ingredients were added to their success Thursday night.
Toby Hall’s mastery of left-handed pitching, Brian Anderson’s astute base running and Carlos Quentin’s clutch hitting enabled the Sox to push across two runs in the eighth inning as the Sox completed a three-game sweep of American League Central rival Cleveland with a 3-1 victory.
The Sox are one game from matching their last nine-game winning streak, accomplished June 15-24, 2006.
Mark Buehrle helped make it possible by limiting Cleveland to two hits over seven innings. The offense finally generated enough firepower to improve to 10-4 in games against left-handed starters after beating Aaron Laffey.
Hall led off the eighth with his third consecutive hit off Laffey and is now 7-for-14 against lefties this season. Anderson pinch-ran for Hall and tagged up from first after pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski hit a deep fly to center field for the second out.
Quentin then singled to left field to score Anderson with the go-ahead run and moved up to second on the throw home. Quentin is 7-for-14 with two outs and runners in scoring position this season and is batting .417 overall (15-for-36) with runners in scoring position.
Jermaine Dye’s single scored Quentin with an insurance run. Scott Linebrink won his first game with the Sox after pitching a scoreless eighth, and closer Bobby Jenks earned his 12th save in the ninth.
Cleveland didn’t put a runner in scoring position in the final three innings.
The Sox pitching staff has been the backbone of its success, and Buehrle has made a substantial contribution after allowing 13 runs in two starts earlier this month.
Buehrle has allowed two runs in his last 13 2/3 innings. A lack of run support prevented him from getting a victory over the Indians at U.S. Cellular Field for the first time since Opening Day 2005 — a span of eight starts. He did allow a season-low two hits while gaining some measure of revenge against a Cleveland team that tagged him for seven runs in the second inning of his Opening Day start this year.
Buehrle did walk a season-high four batters, and issuing consecutive walks with one out in the third cost him when Grady Sizemore hit an opposite-field double to left to score Franklin Gutierrez with the tying run.
Sox starting pitchers have a 1.69 ERA with nine quality starts in their last nine games and have allowed only two home runs during that span.
More encouraging to the Sox is the manner in which Buehrle, the staff ace, recently has avoided the big innings that plagued him earlier this season. After Sizemore’s double, he stranded two runners in scoring position when he induced Ben Francisco to line out to shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Travis Hafner to fly to right.
Two double plays aided Buehrle, and he stranded Francisco at third in the sixth when Kelly Shoppach flied out deep to right.
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mgonzales@tribune.com
