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Scherzer, Tigers shut down White Sox

Apr 24, 2011 - 10:05 PM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Max Scherzer scattered four hits over eight scoreless innings, as the Detroit Tigers continued their dominance of division rival Chicago with a 3-0 win to sweep a three-game series.

Scherzer (4-0), who collected seven strikeouts, is off to the best start of his young career.

Austin Jackson had two hits and an RBI, while Alex Avila and Brandon Inge also drove in a run for the Tigers, who have won nine straight over Chicago and four straight overall. Detroit hasn't had this much success against the southsiders since a 10-game stretch during the 1923 campaign.

"It's always good to get a win," Scherzer said. "We played good team baseball today. Our hitters came through today."

John Danks (0-3) was touched for three runs on nine hits in six innings for the lowly White Sox, who have dropped 10 of their last 11 contests. Juan Pierre and A.J. Pierzynski each had two hits in defeat.

Miguel Cabrera singled, Jhonny Peralta walked and Brennan Boesch singled to load the bases with no outs in the fourth. After Danks got Casper Wells to chase a third strike, Avila had a broken-bat ground out to score Cabrera and put the first run on the board.

The Tigers, though, squandered the great opportunity to blow the game open when Inge flied out to end the inning.

Scherzer, meanwhile, was looking good through the first four innings with a no-hitter, but it was broken up by Pierzynski's lead off bloop single into center in the fifth. However, the right-hander got out of the inning without any damage.

Detroit tacked on a couple of runs in this sixth on Inge's double into the left-field corner to bring home Avila from first. Then Jackson doubled in Inge with a shot into the left-center gap for a 3-0 lead.

Scherzer kept cruising through the eighth and Jose Valverde pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save of the season.

"There's nothing you can do about it but move on," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of the loss. "You have to be ready for the next day because you never know what's going to happen."

Game Notes

Detroit outscored Chicago, 21-3, in the series. The White Sox were held scoreless for the last 20 innings of the series...The Tigers will host Seattle for a three-game series and have won four straight at home...The White Sox will continue an 11-game road trip at New York. Chicago is 1-6 on the trip...Chicago's Omar Vizquel turned 44 on Sunday. He went 0-for-3 with a walk.