Jackson, Quentin lead White Sox past Angels 8-0

[May 10, 2011]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The long-overdue run support the Chicago White Sox gave Edwin Jackson enabled him to relax and pitch his game, something he hadn't been able to do for quite a while.

Jackson pitched seven superb innings for his first victory in more than a month, Carlos Quentin homered and drove in five runs, and the White Sox routed the Los Angeles Angels 8-0 on Monday night.

"It was definitely a great feeling," Jackson said. "When you look up and you have early run support, you don't have to be as perfect and you can attack the hitters. When the offense is swinging like that, you just want to get them back in as quick as possible so they can continue to swing."

It was a rough night all-around for the Angels, who put left fielder Vernon Wells on the 15-day disabled list after the game. Wells strained his groin while running out a grounder.

Jackson (3-4) scattered five hits, struck out five and walked one after going winless in his previous five starts since beating Tampa Bay 5-1 on April 7. The right-hander had more than enough runs to work with after four consecutive outings in which his teammates failed to score while he was in the game.

"If we were to come into the clubhouse today and said, `We haven't gotten Edwin any runs,' I think that would have put more pressure on us. But it was obviously nice to get him a win," second baseman Gordon Beckham said.

Beckham and Alexei Ramirez also homered for the White Sox, who have won three straight for the first time this season.

"You can ask any pitcher on the team, they haven't had a whole lot of run support. But he's held up great," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "He keeps battling and giving us quality starts, and that's all you can ask for. But we knew eventually we would get it going offensively."

Ervin Santana (1-4) gave up five runs and eight hits in six-plus innings, including Beckham's two-run homer in the second and Ramirez's leadoff drive in the seventh. Both home runs came on the first pitch.

"The last couple of days we started to swing the bat better, and we carried it into today's game," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We did a great job making Santana throw a lot of pitches, got some good pitches to hit and took advantage of that. Santana's been tough against us a lot of times, but tonight we made him throw the ball around the plate."

Beckham's homer was his first since April 10.

"It was good to get that home run early in the game because it got us moving in the right direction," Beckham said. "Whenever somebody does something like that early in the game, I guess it kinds of puts the pressure off the rest of the guys. And it becomes contagious. Carlos had an incredible game and a lot of guys had great at-bats."

In Santana's previous start last Wednesday at Boston, the right-hander pitched no-hit ball through four innings before a 2-hour, 35-minute rain delay ended his night.

Quentin, who had a pair of two-out, run-scoring doubles in the third and fifth, made it 8-0 in the seventh against reliever Trevor Bell with his eighth home run after the right-hander relieved Santana and gave up a double to Adam Dunn and a walk to Paul Konerko.

The Angels, shut out in each of Santana's last three losses, got only one runner as far as third base against Jackson. That was in the fourth, when Wells stranded Bobby Abreu with a grounder to third.

Wells pulled up limping less than halfway down the line and had to come out of the game.

Jackson got into another jam in the sixth, but Torii Hunter ended the threat by grounding into a double play for the 12th time this season, the most in the majors.

"He threw a whole lot of off-speed pitches," Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo said. "I'd say his off-speed pitches outnumbered his fastball considerably, and he threw enough of them for strikes. He's also got a good slider and it comes out of his hand like a fastball, so it's really hard to lay off of for right-handed and left-handed hitters."

Chris Sale and Will Ohman each worked an inning to finish the six-hitter.

NOTES: White Sox RHP Jake Peavy, who had another bullpen session Monday, is scheduled to come off the disabled list Wednesday to make his season debut in the series finale. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner hasn't pitched for Chicago since July 6, 2010, against the Angels, when he came out after 1 2-3 innings because of a shoulder injury that required surgery. ... Wells is batting .183 with four home runs and 13 RBIs in 35 games. The three-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove outfielder was acquired from Toronto on Jan. 21 with four years and $86 million remaining on a $126 million, seven-year contract he signed with the Blue Jays. Wells will be making his fifth trip to the DL in 13 major league seasons, and his first since 2008. ... Angels 2B Howie Kendrick, who is 1 for 13 against Jackson, was not in the starting lineup for only the second time in the team's first 36 games. He entered in the fifth, as Alexi Amarista shifted to LF following Wells' injury.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.