Guardians 4 - 1 White Sox
Final
  for this game

Carmona, Indians down White Sox

Aug 18, 2011 - 4:50 AM

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Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Fausto Carmona pitched into the ninth inning to lead the Cleveland Indians past the Chicago White Sox, 4-1, in the second portion of a three-game series.

Carmona (6-12) allowed one run on four hits and three walks in 8 1/3 innings. He also struck out six in his first winning decision since July 18.

With the win, Cleveland increased its lead over Chicago for second place in the AL Central to a game and a half. The Indians still sit two games back of first-place Detroit.

"I know that every game means a lot because we're playing the White Sox, but with so many games left, if I go day-by-day and pay attention to that I'm gonna get a heart attack," said Indians manager Manny Acta.

Chris Perez recorded the final two outs of the game to earn his 26th save of the year and the Indians' seventh win in 11 contests.

Mark Buehrle (10-6) allowed four runs on 12 hits and two walks in 7 1/3 innings. It was the first time in 19 starts that Buehrle allowed more than three runs, keeping him tied with Frank Smith (1909) for the longest single-season streak in White Sox history with 18.

"I was on a pretty good roll. It sucks that it came to an end, but everything has to come to an end sometime," Buehrle said about the end of his streak.

After recording 22 hits in Tuesday's, 8-7, 14-inning victory over Cleveland, Chicago only mustered four hits as the Sox had their three-game win streak snapped.

Carmona fanned Paul Konerko to start the ninth, but after giving a walk to Carlos Quentin he was pulled in favor of Perez. Perez got Alexei Ramirez on a flyout to center field before walking Adam Dunn to bring the game-tying run to the plate with two outs. Gordon Beckham, though, grounded out to third for the final out.

Jason Donald doubled with one out in the second and crossed the plate on Jack Hannahan's base hit to center, giving the Indians a one-run lead.

But that lead was quickly erased when Ramirez led off the bottom half of the frame with a homer into the bleachers in left field.

After Carlos Santana sent a ball into the right-field corner for a one-out double in the sixth, Kosuke Fukudome hit a single back up the middle to bring home Santana and give the Indians the lead for good.

Cleveland then increased its margin in the seventh. Lou Marson worked a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Brantley. Shin-Soo Choo followed with a base hit to center, scoring Marson and advancing Brantley to third. Asdrubal Cabrera's sacrifice fly to center made it a 4-1 game.

Game Notes

Chicago holds a 7-2 advantage in the season series...Konerko went 0-for-3 to end his 12-game hitting streak...Carmona threw 76 of his 118 pitches for strikes.






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