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Escobar beats White Sox for second time in six days

May 5, 2007 - 5:58 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Kelvim Escobar doubled his pleasure against the Chicago White Sox and helped Mike Scioscia enter the record books.

Escobar beat the White Sox for the second time in six days and Orlando Cabrera delivered a clutch hit as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim posted a 5-1 victory in the opener of a three-game series.

After yielding just two runs and four hits in 7 2/3 innings in a 5-2 triumph against Chicago on Sunday, Escobar (3-1) was in complete command of the slumping White Sox again. The righthander allowed a run and six hits in seven frames with two walks and four strikeouts.

"I wouldn't say that I have their number because they are a good hitting team so I just try to go out their and keep them away from having a big inning," Escobar said.

In the process, Escobar helped Scioscia record his club-record 626th win as the Angels' manager, passing Bill Rigney on the all-time list.

"It's a great accomplishment for me and I'm just happy that I can give back to this organization that gave me a chance to manage in the big leagues," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Scot Shields followed Escobar with two scoreless innings for his second save.

"Shields did a good job getting their hitters out tonight and it was good to give Franky (Rodriguez) an extra days rest," Scioscia said.

After the Angels took a 1-0 lead against Chicago starter Jose Contreras on a sacrifice fly by Gary Matthews Jr. in the first inning, Cabrera delivered a two-out, two-run single in the second - a frame the White Sox would like to forget.

"We know that we have to put runs on the board if other teams are going to give us extra outs," Cabrera said. "I got a good pitch to hit and it ended up being a big hit for us because Esky (Escobar) got to go out there and pitch his game."

Erick Aybar opened it with a bunt single and advanced to second when Contreras committed a throwing error after fielding a ball hit by Shea Hillenbrand. Mike Napoli followed with a routine fly ball to medium center field, but former Angel Darin Erstad lost the ball in the lights, allowing Aybar to score and give Anaheim a 2-0 lead.

"That's a play that we work on all year long and he (Contreras) has made that play a hundred times, but the ball just got away from him," Guillen said of Contreras.

After Contreras got the next two hitters, Cabrera drilled a base hit to left-center for a 4-0 edge.

"Jose threw a good game for us, it's just too bad that we had that one bad inning and couldn't help him get a win," White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said.

Contreras (2-3) yielded four runs - one earned - and six hits in six innings with three walks and three strikeouts.

"He (Contreras) threw a good game for us and kept us within striking distance," Guillen said. "We will take that kind of outing from him all the time. We just have to come back out here tomorrow and try to get back to playing good baseball."

Chicago's offense again was impotent. Entering last in the majors with a .221 average and last in the American League with 99 runs and a .219 average with runners in scoring position, it had just six hits - one for extra bases - in this poor effort.

"It's just baseball and right now it just seems like we can't do anything right," Pierzynski said. "We need to get back to the fundamentals and start winning games."

The White Sox have scored seven runs during their five-game losing streak.