CLEVELAND — Losing streaks tend to be ended by good pitching, and the Chicago White Sox got plenty of that from Jake Peavy on Sunday.
Peavy pitched seven dominating innings as the White Sox snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Peavy held Cleveland to one run and five hits while striking out 11 without walking a batter as he improved his record to 2-1 and lowered his ERA to 3.93.
“He was just pumping strikes in there one right after another. He’s a competitor. You tip your cap to him,” Indians designated hitter Jason Giambi said.
White Sox manager Robin Ventura said, “He goes both sides. He’s not just throwing it on one side of the plate. He’ll mix it in on the inside part and then back door you on the outside. I think he was just sharp today. It was one of those (games) where he just seemed to be hitting the glove.”
After getting swept in a three-game series in Washington and then losing the first two games of the series in Cleveland, the White Sox were off to their first 0-5 road start since 1972 and they were trying to avoid their first 0-6 start on the road since 1968.
But Peavy’s masterpiece took care of all that.
His only hiccup came in the first inning when Michael Bourn homered on Peavy’s first pitch of the game.
“I didn’t expect Bourn to swing there. He got me,” Peavy said.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said, “It was like Michael ambushed him on the first pitch, but after that he was very good.”
AFter Bourn’s home run, Peavy was overpowering, striking out 10 of the next 19 batters he faced.
“It was like I got him going with the home run,” Bourn said.
Peavy faced the minimum three batters in each of the second through the fifth innings. After Bourn’s home run, no Cleveland base runner reached second base against Peavy.
Indians starter Brett Myers, who was roughed up in his first two appearances of the season, held the White Sox scoreless on five hits through the first five innings. In his first two appearances, Myers had a 12.19 ERA and had given up seven home runs in 10 1/3 innings.
“I knew what the problem was. It wasn’t my stuff, it was where the ball was,” Myers said. “Today, I was able to keep the ball down.”
Myers took the 1-0 lead into the sixth, but with two outs and nobody on, he walked Adam Dunn, the only walk issued by Myers in the game. Paul Konerko then belted a 3-and-1 pitch over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, giving Chicago a 2-1 lead.
“I actually thought it was a pretty good pitch,” Myers said. “A fastball down. He could have popped it up.”
Konerko said, “It was good today to do something that actually mattered within the game. And it’s nice to get Jake a win. He pitched really well today.”
Myers (0-2) was removed from the game after the sixth having given up two runs and six hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
Reliever Vinnie Pestano gave up a home run to Alejandro De Aza leading off the eighth to extend the Chicago lead to 3-1 and Addison Reed pitched the ninth for the White Sox to pick up his fourth save.
NOTES: Bourn left the game in the eighth with a right hand laceration after a headfirst slide into first base. Bourn received five stitches in his right index finger. . . Giambi made his first appearance in a game for the Indians, batting sixth as the designated hitter. The 42-year-old Giambi was 0 for 4. … White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers doubled off Myers in the fifth, snapping his 0-for-22 hitless streak. Flowers, who was 1 for 3 in the game, is in a 3-for-27 slide and has struck out in five of his last seven at-bats. … Nick Swisher made his first start in right field for the Indians. Swisher had previously started eight games at first base and two as the designated hitter. … Before the game, the White Sox placed infielder Angel Sanchez on the disabled list and purchased the contract of infielder Tyler Greene from Class AAA Charlotte.