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Buehrle, White Sox stymie Zito, Giants

May 18, 2008 - 5:59 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The Chicago White Sox continue to roll.

Mark Buehrle hurled 6 2/3 solid innings as the White Sox held on for their fourth straight win and seventh in their last 10 games with a 3-1 interleague victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

It is getting to the point where every time Giants starter Barry Zito takes the mound, he struggles with his command. He labored through five innings, throwing 116 pitches, allowing eight hits, two runs, a season-high six walks and four strikeouts.

"I want to go out and be aggressive and compete," Zito said. "It's not going to benefit me thinking about the past. What will benefit me is to ask myself what can I do today to get better?"

He did manage to work out of a jam every inning as the White Sox left 11 runners on base in the first five frames.

But Zito (0-8), who last season signed a seven-year, $126 million deal, still is in search of his first win this season.

"For me, I want to give the team a chance to win, compete and be aggressive," Zito said. "My last three starts, I'm not satisfied with the results. They're losses (actually, one no-decision). But I think they're steps in the right direction and I'm feeling better every day."

He remained winless with a 6.25 ERA and is 11-21 with the Giants.

"He pitched himself in some jams," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He didn't cave in. That's a gutsy outing if you look at it. He did a great job of keeping us in that game. We just have to start putting some runs on the board. His last three starts we just haven't scored a lot for him."

The White Sox scored single runs in the first and second innings.

Orlando Cabrera led off the game with a single to left, Pablo Ozuna singled to put runners at the corners and Carlos Quentin drove in Ozuna with a sacrifice fly to right.

In the second, Alexei Ramirez and Toby Hall led off with base hits. Buehrle (2-5) sacrificed to move the runners to second and third, and Cabrera's sacrifice fly to center increased the lead to 2-0.

The Giants could not mount any real threat against Buehrle until the fifth inning. Jose Castillo led off the frame with a double to left and advanced to third on a ground out by Daniel Ortmeier.

Pinch hitter Eugenio Velez looked overmatched at the plate but managed to ground to short on a 0-2 count to bring home Castillo.

The White Sox got their two run cushion back in the sixth thanks to Jermaine Dye, who singled to center with two outs. He advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw by reliever Keiichi Yabu and scored on a single to right center by Paul Konerko.

"No matter how we win the game we just want to do whatever we can to help our pitchers and we got a couple of runs early," Dye said. "And then Buehrle went out and did his thing. He got ground balls, got double plays, and the bullpen came in and shut the door."

Although Buehrle allowed the leadoff man to reach base in four different innings, he induced three double plays. Buehrle also recorded his third career hit in the seventh with a solid single off the wall in right field.

"I think overall I've pitched pretty well and given my team a chance to win," Buerhle said. "Coming into today out of eight starts I've thrown pretty well in five of them. I've gone out there and tried to give us a chance to win and that's all you can do as a starting pitcher."

Aaron Rowand doubled to left in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Castillo dribbled a grounder up the third-base line that Buehrle tried to field.

Instead, it was an infield single putting runners at the corners. Buehrle got Ortmeier to swing and miss on a high outside fastball.

But after a walk to pinch hitter Steve Holm to load the bases, manager Ozzie Guillen called for Octavio Dotel, who fanned Randy Winn getting him to swing and miss on three consecutive pitches.

Scott Linebrink pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks worked the ninth for his 10th save for the White Sox, who sent the Giants to their fourth straight loss and 11th in their last 15 to fall a season-worst 10 games below .500.

"It's funny because in all reality, according to the experts we're actually playing better than people thought we would play, even though we're not playing that great," Giants first baseman Rich Aurilia said. "It's fun to try and go out and prove people wrong.

"Go out, try and get better and have a positive attitude everyday. You cannot do anything about what happened the day before if you made mistakes so why dwell on it."