Pavano beats White Sox to stop Indians' skid

[May 12, 2009]  CLEVELAND (AP) -- Carl Pavano won his third straight start and the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 9-4 on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Pavano (3-3) allowed four runs and 10 hits over 6 1-3 innings in his first appearance against the White Sox in nearly five years. The right-hander didn't issue a walk and struck out three.

Shin-Soo Choo and Jhonny Peralta drove in three runs apiece for Cleveland, which totaled 13 hits and scored three more runs than it did during its four-game slide.

Chicago lost for the seventh time in nine games as Gavin Floyd (2-3) gave up eight runs and 11 hits over five innings. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 9.73 ERA in four starts since April 19.

The last time Pavano faced Chicago, he pitched a three-hit shutout on June 16, 2004, for Florida on the way to an 18-8 record. He signed a four-year contract worth nearly $40 million with the New York Yankees, but spent most of his time on the disabled list and had only nine wins before getting a one-year, $1.5 million deal with Cleveland in January.

The Indians built a 6-0 lead through four innings despite wasting some scoring chances. They had runners at second and third with one out in a two-run first and left them stranded. They had two on and none out in the second and didn't score.

Choo had an RBI single and Mark DeRosa an RBI double in Cleveland's two-run first.

Choo's bases-loaded single scored two to make it 4-0 in the fourth. Floyd then hit DeRosa in the left forearm with a pitch to reload the bases and Peralta followed with a two-run single to center.

A.J. Pierzynski had an RBI single in Chicago's two-run fifth. DeRosa at third made a diving backhand stop of a sharp grounder by Alexi Ramirez to prevent more damage. Ramirez got an RBI, but was thrown out at first.

Victor Martinez and Peralta had RBI singles and Ryan Garko a sacrifice fly as Cleveland took a 9-2 lead in the sixth.

Josh Fields and Ramirez each singled home runs in Chicago's seventh.

Notes: White Sox OF Scott Podsednik is expected to return to the club Tuesday following the birth of his daughter, Peytra, on Sunday. ... White Sox LHP Clayton Richard is scheduled to make his first start of the season on Tuesday. Manager Ozzie Guillen moved Richard up one day to give LHP Mark Buehrle an extra day of rest. ... Chicago purchased the contract of LHP Jimmy Gobble from Charlotte to replace RHP Jose Contreras, who was optioned to the Triple-A team. ... Gobble replaced Floyd in the sixth. ... Cleveland signed RHP Blaine Neal to a minor-league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Columbus.

[Associated Press]

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