Masterson (1-5), acquired from Boston last July 31 in the Victor Martinez trade, hadn't won in 17 starts since beating the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 20. He came within two of the club-record 13 straight losses set by Guy Morton in 1914.
His streak-buster wasn't pretty - five hits, six walks and two hit batters in 5 2-3 innings
- but it finally gave the last-place Indians some good news.
They would have had a perfect game pitched against them Wednesday if not for an umpiring mistake. They were routed by Detroit the next day. And a few hours before Friday's game, All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore underwent season-ending knee surgery.
The trip to Chicago came along at just the right time. The Indians are 7-3 against the White Sox, 13-30 against everybody else.
In losing for the ninth time in its last 13 home games, Chicago fell to 23-31.
John Danks (4-5) took a 1-0 lead into the sixth but couldn't get out of the inning. Shin-Soo Choo led off with a double, Austin Kearns walked and Russell Branyan singled to load the bases before Peralta drove a 3-2 pitch off the left-field wall to put Cleveland ahead.
After Branyan was thrown out at home on Travis Hafner's grounder, Shelley Duncan hit an RBI double and Luis Valbuena chased Danks with a run-scoring single to make it 4-1.
Danks, who allowed four runs on nine hits in 5 1-3 innings, is 1-5 with a 5.05 ERA since going 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA in April. He has a 3-6 career record against the Indians, including 0-4 at home.
The only run off Masterson came on Alexei Ramirez's fourth-inning homer, but the White Sox had multiple baserunners every inning against him. Duncan's diving catch in left saved two runs in the second.
In the sixth, Masterson walked Mark Kotsay on four pitches and hit Carlos Quentin with a 2-1 delivery, but A.J. Pierzynski grounded into a double play on the next pitch. After Ramirez walked, reliever Frank Herrmann made his major league debut and got Gordon Beckham to fly out.
