White Sox win despite ejections

CLEVELAND (AP)

Mitch Talbot pitched more like a Cy Young winner than the actual Cy Young winner.

The Cleveland Indians' right-hander quickly and efficiently outpitched Jake Peavy, a former NL winner of the award, in a 7-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Umpire Angel Hernandez pushes White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle toward the dugout after Buehrle was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Indians in the third inning.

Mark Duncan

"He struck out like 10 guys in the first three or four innings,'' White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

It only seemed that way.

Talbot (6-3) fanned only four over seven innings, but won for the third time in four starts.

"He was fantastic,'' Indians manager Manny Acta said. "That's what makes baseball such a great game. On any given day a guy like Mitch can beat a guy like Peavy. Mitch deserves all the credit.''

Cleveland's offense contributed early for change, too. The Indians had been outscored 120-85 over the first five innings this season before staking Talbot to a 6-0 lead.

Jason Donald and Shin-Soo Choo each homered in a three-run third inning off Peavy (3-4). They added a three-run sixth off the right-hander, who won the award in 2007 with the San Diego Padres.

"I had two innings that cost us the ballgame,'' Peavy said.

Talbot allowed two runs and six hits to rebound from his worst start of the season, when he gave up eight hits and six runs over six innings in a 9-3 loss to Kansas City on Thursday.

"It's fun to match up with Peavy because he works so quick,'' Talbot said. "I like to work fast. It's a fun challenge. He keeps me in rhythm.''

Acquired from Tampa Bay in December in a trade for veteran catcher Kelly Shoppach, Talbot took a two-hit shutout into the seventh Tuesday before giving up four doubles.

Alexei Ramirez doubled and scored on a one-out double by Andruw Jones. Mark Kotsay followed with an RBI double into the right-field corner, but was thrown out trying for third. He would have scored easily on Carlos Quentin's double off the left-field wall.

Talbot stranded Quentin at second by getting Mark Teahen to ground out to first. Teahen had three hits and three RBIs in Chicago's 7-2 win Monday night.

Peavy gave up eight hits and six runs over six innings for his second consecutive start. After winning his first three starts in May, the 28-year-old also gave up eight hits and six runs in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

"I didn't have very good stuff at all,'' Peavy said. "Nothing was sharp. When you're not sharp, you better be good with location. That pitch Donald hit out stayed right down the middle, no life. The pitch Choo hit out was a breaking ball. Everything was flat.''

Peavy allowed two homers in a game for the third time. Last season, he never gave up more than one in a game.

Guillen said he doesn't know why Peavy has been so inconsistent.

"He's been up and down,'' Guillen said. "He's been throwing the ball well. Today he had a very, very tough time.''

Ramirez had an RBI double off Cleveland reliever Chris Perez in the eighth to make it 6-3, but Cleveland restored its four-run lead in the bottom half on a suicide squeeze bunt by Luis Valbuena. Austin Kearns singled, went to third on a one-out single by Jhonny Peralta and took off for home on a pitch by reliever Scott Linebrink that Valbuena put into play with a bunt for the RBI.

"That was the right situation for us,'' Acta said. "We wanted to get that run.''

Donald opened the Indians' third with his first career homer. One out later, Choo hit his seventh of the season. Travis Hafner followed with a ground-rule double. He scored on Russell Branyan's two-out single to make it 3-0.

Hafner extended his hitting streak to 12 games after taking a one-game rest on Monday night against Chicago left-hander John Danks.

Cleveland made it 6-0 in the sixth. Peralta had an RBI double and scored on Valbuena's sacrifice fly fielded in foul territory by rightfielder Jones. Lou Marson added a sacrifice fly.

NOTES: The Indians still do not have an update on OF Grady Sizemore, out since May 19 with a bruised left knee. Sizemore is visiting doctors in Colorado and New York to get second and third opinions on the best method of treatment. ... Cleveland rescheduled a May 7 rainout with Detroit as a 1:05 p.m. game July 17, creating a day-night doubleheader with the regular game with the Tigers set for 7:05 p.m. ... OF Mark Kotsay had three hits including two of Chicago's season-high six doubles. ... Pierre and Teahen both had seven-game hitting streaks snapped. ... Hafner has hit .393 (24 of 61) over his last 17 games. ... Cleveland is 6-2 against the White Sox this season.