White Sox beat A's 6-1 for 12th straight home win

[July 31, 2010]  CHICAGO (AP) -- When Lucas Harrell woke up in the morning, he was preparing to make a start for Triple-A Charlotte. He ended the day with his first major league victory.

Harrell pitched six strong innings in his major league debut, Dayan Viciedo had three hits, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-1 Friday night to get their 12th straight win at home.

Harrell's morning started with a call from White Sox director of player development Buddy Bell informing him of the news.

"When I got the call," Harrell said, "I thought it was joke from (Charlotte teammate) Brent Morel or somebody else on the team. When he said, no this is Buddy Bell, I was like, this is real, I definitely got excited and called my parents right away."

Harrell, who is from Springfield, Mo., already had his parents driving to Louisville for his minor league start. He quickly told them to change directions and "drive north on I-55."

Gordon Beckham also had two hits and drove in two runs for the AL Central-leading White Sox, who are 19-1 at home since June 9. With the win, Chicago moved to a season-high 14 games over .500.

The day was set up for Harrell when the White Sox acquired right-hander Edwin Jackson from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Friday night's scheduled starter Daniel Hudson and prospect David Holmberg. Chicago then purchased the contract of the 24-year-old Harrell, who was 9-9 with a 4.24 ERA for Charlotte.

After losing two out of three games to at Oakland last weekend, the White Sox have won five in a row and have their longest home-winning streak since they a 13-game stretch July 1-Aug. 5, 1989.

Harrell (1-0) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and then coasted behind a strong offense for his first victory. He allowed one run on four hits and pitched around five walks with one strikeout. After the game, Harrell was optioned back to Charlotte.

Kurt Suzuki had two hits for Oakland who have lost three of its last four after going 9-2 in its previous 11 games.

Oakland starter Brett Anderson (2-2), who made his first start since June 3, gave up five runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings. Anderson was activated from the disabled list before the game with left elbow soreness. Inflammation in his pitching elbow has limited Anderson to three starts since April 24.

"I felt a little rusty," he said. "It's a little different ammo being up here rather than facing the Tacoma Rainiers or whoever I was facing before. It's good to get back, get my feet wet again under these circumstances."

Oakland manager Bob Geren is confident Anderson will build from the start.

"His stuff wasn't quite as sharp as it normally is," Geren said. "It wasn't bad, just not as crisp as it will be. The velocity was there, he didn't walk any. Only one strikeout, you could tell he wasn't as sharp as normal. He came out feeling pretty good and he'll be ready to go next time."

Juan Pierre led off the first inning with a bouncer to shortstop Cliff Pennington, who fielded the ball on the run near second base and bobbled it, allowing Pierre to reach safely with a hit. Pierre then stole second and scored on Alex Rios' single to give Harrell and the White Sox an early lead.

Harrell got into trouble in the second inning. He walked leadoff hitter Mark Ellis, but retired the next two batters. He then walked Pennington and Coco Crisp to load the bases. Daric Barton lifted a long fly ball to center, but Rios hovered under just a step from the center-field wall and made the catch.

Ellis led off the fourth with a single and moved to second and third on a pair of infield grounders. He then scored after Pennington hit a liner off Harrell's glove to tie the score.

The White Sox regained the lead in the fourth as Paul Konerko led off with a double to center and scored on A.J. Pierzynski's single. Viciedo followed with a double off the wall in center advancing Pierzynksi to third. Pierzynski scored on Andruw Jones' infield groundout and Viciedo scored on Beckham's single to make it 4-1.

Beckham gave the White Sox an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI single and Alexei Ramirez scored on Konerko's sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Jackson was 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA in 21 starts for the Diamondbacks this year, coming off an All-Star season in which he went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 33 starts covering 214 innings for Detroit.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said Jackson is scheduled to start Wednesday at Detroit.

NOTES: Before the game, the Athletics placed closer Andrew Bailey on the disabled list with a strained right rib cage muscle. Bailey, coming off his second All-Star appearance in as many years, hasn't pitched since July 20 with the injury. He has 20 saves in 23 opportunities with a 1.56 ERA. The club expects him back Aug. 6 against the Rangers. ... Jackson issued eight walks in his 149-pitch no-hitter against the Rays on June 25, and averages more than four walks per nine innings, well above the league average.

[Associated Press]

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