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Sale solid in first big league start, White Sox top Indians

Apr 10, 2012 - 4:26 AM Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Chris Sale tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and the Chicago White Sox topped the Cleveland Indians, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Progressive Field on Monday.

Sale (1-0) gave up just one run on three hits while striking out five and walking two in his first career start. He threw 60 of his 100 pitches for strikes.

Sale was Chicago's first round draft selection (13th overall) in 2010, and all 79 of his major league appearances were as a reliever.

"I was a bit nervous," Sale said. "But I tried to channel that towards pitching. I tried not to be scared of pitching, but motivated,"

Hector Santiago gave up a run in the ninth, but still collected his second save of the season.

A. J. Pierzynski cracked a two-run homer and Alejandro De Aza added a solo shot for the White Sox, who bounced back from a 5-0 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday. Paul Konerko finished with a pair of hits and Brent Morel contributed an RBI single.

Josh Tomlin (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits while striking out seven and walking one in five full frames.

Jose Lopez ripped a solo home run and Carlos Santana added an RBI single for the Tribe, who fell to 1-3 on the young season.

Chicago wasted no time hitting the scoreboard as De Aza cracked the fourth pitch he saw from Tomlin -- a middle-in fastball -- about six rows deep in right field to make it 1-0. After Konerko beat out an infield single, Tomlin left another fastball up to Pierzynski and he roped it over the wall in right field to extend the White Sox lead to 3-0.

Chicago extended its lead to 4-0 in the visitor's fifth. After Dayan Viciedo and Gordon Beckham made the first two outs, De Aza lined a double down the right-field line, and Morel followed with an RBI single into right field.

Cleveland got on the board in the home half of the sixth after Shin-Soo Choo was hit by a pitch, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single to center by Santana.

The Indians drew to within 4-2 when Lopez drove a fastball from Santiago off the left-field foul pole to conclude an eight-pitch battle, but Santiago came back to induce a flyout from Shelley Duncan before fanning Jason Kipnis and Aaron Cunningham to seal the win for the ChiSox.

"If he's healthy and he throws his stuff over the plate, he's going to be tough on a lot of people regardless of whether he pitches out of the 'pen or if he starts," Indians manager Manny Acta said of Sale's outing. ""He's got a very deceptive delivery -- a low slot. He can run it up there in the mid-90s with sink and he's got a pretty good slider."

Game Notes

The White Sox took 11-of-18 meetings with the Indians last season...Sale went 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA, eight saves and 79 strikeouts last season, his first full major-league year...Cleveland went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and stranded six, while the White Sox went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.