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Maholm, Pirates keep White Sox reeling

Jun 16, 2007 - 3:35 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Chicago White Sox's June swoon continues.

Jose Bautista and Xavier Nady each drove in two runs and Paul Maholm pitched seven strong innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago White Sox, 4-2, in interleague play on Friday.

Maholm (3-9) allowed one run, three hits and three walks while striking out six in handing the White Sox their 11th loss in 14 games this month. Chicago, which has lost four straight, has been outscored 72-41 in June.

"That's the way we're going right now," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "It's kind of getting old seeing this day in and day out and I try to make some changes but there's not many options out there. We can't find a way to get clutch hitting."

Matt Capps escaped a jam in the ninth to record his fourth save of the season. The righthander allowed a double to A.J. Pierzynski, before hitting Luis Terrero with a pitch.

Capps battled back with back-to-back strikeouts of pinch hitter Jim Thome and Josh Fields, but then loaded the bases with a walk to Rob Mackowiak. Capps forced home a run with a walk to Alex Cintron, before ending the game by getting Andy Gonzalez to popout.

"The last out, I made a quality pitch down in the zone and he popped it up," Capps said. "You don't have to be perfect but execute what you're trying to do and the majority of the time you'll come out on top. And you have to throw strikes. I didn't do that (earlier in the inning)."

After Pierzynski gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead in the first, the Pirates responded with a pair of runs off starter Jon Garland (4-4) in the bottom of the frame and never looked back.

Back-to-back two-out singles by Jason Bay and Adam LaRoche set the table for Nady, who put the Pirates ahead with a two-run double.

"Getting two quick outs and then those two base hits they got ... I threw some good pitches but they put them in play and it worked out for them," Garland said. "I probably gave (Nady) a better pitch than I should have in that situation - I still had a base open. But he's a pretty good hitter and he knew what to do with it."

Bautista tacked on a run in the second inning with an RBI single that scored Jack Wilson, who doubled earlier in the frame. Bautista singled in Wilson again in the fourth inning to give Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead.

"I'm seeing the ball well, just trying to put the barrel on the ball as much as possible," Bautista said. "I happened to manage to do it twice tonight and at the right time. So I am glad to get those RBIs and help us win the game."

Garland allowed four runs, 11 hits and no walks while striking out four in six innings.

The win was a welcomed change for Maholm, who came into the game 0-5 in his last six starts, having allowed five runs in four of those appearances. His last home win before this was April 24.

"After that first inning, I started getting the first-pitch breaking balls over pretty easily and it was just mixing pitches and challenging down in the zone and not leaving a whole lot of pitches up and just making them hit it into the ground and letting our fielders work," Maholm said.

Fields had two of the four hits by the White Sox, who have lost 16 of 19 overall.

"I've never been on a team that's lost and I've never been on a team that's been through anything close to a stretch like this," Pierzynski said. "It's downright amazing because if you look at the team we run out there, you think that we should be better."