Rookie Smith Pitches A's Past White Sox

[April 15, 2008]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Greg Smith outpitched Mark Buehrle for his first major league win, and Kurt Suzuki went 4-for-4 as the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 Monday night for their eighth victory in 10 games.

Making his second big league appearance, Smith (1-0) gave up one run and six hits over seven innings on another cold night at U.S. Cellular Field, where the gametime temperature was 42 degrees.

The A's are 6-1 on their first road trip of the season and they improved to 9-5 overall for their best start through 14 games since opening 10-4 in 1992.

Not only was Smith's pitching effective, but so was his move to first during a close game. He was able to thwart former Athletic Nick Swisher's third-inning steal attempt by making a quick throw to first and catching him leaving early. And in the seventh, he caught Jermaine Dye leaning the wrong way at first after Dye started the inning with a single.

Huston Street got his fourth save in five chances with a shaky ninth. He allowed a one-out single to Dye and threw a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Brian Anderson to move to second. Street hit A.J. Pierzynski with a pitch before striking out Carlos Quentin and getting Joe Crede on a comebacker to end it.

The White Sox, who had won seven of nine, were cooled off by the left-handed Smith, who came to Oakland in the deal that sent Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Swisher, traded to the White Sox from the A's in January, had two singles and a walk against Smith. After Swisher's one-out single in the sixth, Orlando Cabrera followed with a single to left and Swisher dashed to third, just beating Emil Brown's throw with a headfirst slide. Jim Thome's RBI grounder cut Oakland's lead to 2-1.

Buehrle (1-1), who hadn't pitched in eight days because of a rainout and a decision to give him an extra day of rest, gave up nine hits in seven innings while his career mark against Oakland dropped to 3-10.

The A's bunched singles by Mike Sweeney, Brown and Suzuki in the fourth for their first run, ending a stretch of 22 straight scoreless innings by the White Sox that included back-to-back shutouts of Detroit on Saturday and Sunday.

Sweeney doubled in the sixth and Brown followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

Notes: Smith also had a solid outing in his major league debut last Wednesday in Toronto. He got a no-decision after giving up two hits and three runs -- two earned -- in six innings. ... Swisher took the field in a regular-season game against his former team for the first time since he was traded in January. "I have a great deal of respect for (GM) Billy (Beane) and (owner) Lew Wolff, but they thought that moving me over here was best for the organization and it seems to be working out for them as well as us," Swisher said. Swisher played 458 games for the A's from 2004-07 and hit 80 homers while batting .251. Now he is Chicago's leadoff hitter and a character in the clubhouse. He made a bid to tie the game in the eighth Monday night, sending a drive to the base of the fence in center field. ... Suzuki's four hits were a career high.

[Associated Press; By RICK GANO]

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