The last time Fausto Carmona pitched against the White Sox, he gave up eight runs as the Sox offense ran away with a victory. That was not to be on Wednesday night at the Cell.
Gunning for second place in the AL Central, the Sox offense was stymied by Carmona, who threw 8.1 innings, giving up just one run on four hits and three walks. He also struck out six. The only run he gave up came in the bottom of the second, when Alexei Ramirez hit his 13th homer of the season to tie the game at one.
Cleveland would take the lead in the sixth inning off of Mark Buehrle, who was not quite his usual self on the mound. Buehrle threw 7.1 innings, giving up four runs on twelve hits and two walks, while striking out three. The performance ended his streak of quality starts, which had stretched all the way back to the 2010 season.
The runs came via small ball in the second inning, when Jack Hannahan singled in Jason Donald, and in the sixth inning, when Kosuke Fukudome singled in Carlos Santana. The Indians added two more runs in the seventh, off of an RBI hit by Shin-Soo Choo and a sacrifice fly by Asdrubal Cabrera.
The margin of three runs was more than enough to seal the victory, however, as the Sox just couldn’t seem to get a handle on Carmona, and then Chris Perez, who closed out the game for his 26th save of the year.
The loss drops the Sox back to 3.5 games out of first place, and 1.5 games behind the Indians. The Sox will try again in the rubber match against the Indians on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 P.M., CDT.