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Rookie Smith pitches Athletics past White Sox

Apr 15, 2008 - 4:12 AM By Gene Chamberlain PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Oakland Athletics lefthander Greg Smith had taken note of grand slams hit by Joe Crede and Paul Konerko in the Chicago White Sox's 11-run drubbing of Detroit on Sunday.

In only his second career start, Smith cooled off the American League's hottest hitting team in the Athletics' 2-1 victory over the White Sox on Monday night.

"I saw what they did (Sunday), kind of looked at their lineup but hopefully they got all of their hits out of their system," Smith said.

Smith (1-0) made certain they had, allowing six hits in seven innings with four strikeouts to outduel lefthander Mark Buehrle (1-1) in a battle of division-leading teams.

"That's two high-quality starts I don't even want to call them (mere) quality starts, really," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "He just commanded both sides of the plate, he used his off-speed at will and showed incredible poise out there.

"It wouldn't appear that was his second time out in a major league uniform on the mound out there. But he showed that all spring and was very impressive in Arizona and he's continuing to do that."

The White Sox led the AL in scoring (70 runs), slugging percentage (.496) and on-base percentage (.356) and ranked second in home runs (17) coming in to the game. They had outscored the Tigers, 18-0, in their last two games.

Former Athletic Nick Swisher, in his first game against his old team, reached base three times against Smith with a walk and two singles. However, A.J. Pierzynski was the only other Chicago player with more than one hit off Smith.

"The kid threw the ball outstanding," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We had been swinging the bats real well and he slowed us down. He threw a (heck) of a game."

Swisher and Jermaine Dye both got erased in rundowns after Smith caught them leaning, and Oakland's infield also pitched in with a pair of double plays.

The White Sox put the tying run in scoring position in the ninth but Huston Street struck out Carlos Quentin and got Crede on a grounder to the mound for his fourth save in five tries.

"We kept fighting all the way to the end, it's exciting," Guillen said. "Everyone in the dugout had the feeling that we were going to win this one, too."

Kurt Suzuki ended a 22 1/3-inning scoreless streak by White Sox pitchers when he hit the third of three singles to center field off Buehrle in the fourth inning for a 1-0 Oakland lead.

Suzuki had a career-high four hits, including three of the nine given up by Buehrle.

"He took this job in spring training and played with a lot of confidence and is riding it," Geren said about Suzuki.

Suzuki's hit chased home cleanup hitter Mike Sweeney, who had led off with a single to center and advanced on Emil Brown's single to center.

In winning for the sixth time in seven games, the Athletics padded their lead in the sixth when Sweeney doubled and came around to score on Brown's single to left.

Buehrle lasted seven innings, walking one. Brown and Sweeney had reputations for plaguing Chicago - Buehrle in particular.

Brown, who is from Chicago, brought in a .424 batting average with three home runs against Buehrle, and Sweeney a .328 mark with five home runs.

"It was fun to be a part of a game like this," Brown said. "It was a good pace, the game was moving, both these guys were pitching good and in a game like this you're looking for some kind of break and there weren't many."