Indians rally past White Sox 5-3

[April 20, 2010]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Fausto Carmona allowed one hit over six wild innings and the Cleveland Indians rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 Wednesday night for their first win under manager Manny Acta.

Grady Sizemore drove in two runs, and Matt LaPorta delivered the tiebreaking double in the seventh after the Indians erased an early 3-0 deficit.

Chicago's Jake Peavy struggled through five innings and failed to protect the lead after Paul Konerko delivered a sacrifice fly and his second two-run homer in as many games.

The Indians scored three against Peavy in the fourth to tie it and took the lead in the seventh, when Shin-Soo Choo led off with a single against Randy Williams (0-1) and scored from second when LaPorta doubled to center against Tony Pena. They got another run in the ninth on Andy Marte's bases-loaded grounder to third.

Carmona (1-0) got the win despite walking six on a night when the game-time temperature was 43. Aaron Laffey and Joe Smith then shut down the White Sox before Chris Perez worked the ninth for his first save.

He walked Mark Kotsay with one out before Alex Rios struck out. Marte made a diving stop on A.J. Pierzynski's grounder to end the game.

Peavy had a tough act to follow after Mark Buehrle's season-opening gem and was nowhere near as dominant as he was at the end of last season, when he went 3-0 in September. Instead, the 2007 NL Cy Young winner struggled through five innings, allowing three runs and seven hits while walking two and hitting two batters.

The early lead disappeared when the Indians sent up nine batters in the fourth.

Peavy hit Mike Redmond to load the bases with one out before Michael Brantley singled in a run. Sizemore tied it with a two-out, two run single to right, and Choo walked to reload the bases before Travis Hafner ended the inning with a fly to center.

That rally quieted a crowd that was chanting "Paulie! Paulie!" after Konerko went deep in the third.

NOTES: Andruw Jones will usually play the outfield when he's in the White Sox's lineup rather than serve as the designated hitter, manager Ozzie Guillen said. He's still part of the DH committee, though. "I'm not going to say he's not DH-ing -- he might be DH-ing," Guillen said. "But Andruw's in the lineup, why not take advantage of his glove?" A winner of 10 straight Gold Gloves with Atlanta, Jones hasn't started this season. ... Acta said 1B Russell Branyan, out with a bad back, will likely start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus this week. ... Acta wouldn't put the blame on C Lou Marson for Jake Westbrook's club record-tying four wild pitches in the opener. "It's not easy to block pitches in the dirt," Acta said. "It's very unpredictable at times."

[Associated Press; By ANDREW SELIGMAN]

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