Floyd pitches well, but White Sox offense falters

[May 26, 2011]  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Gavin Floyd pitched well enough to win. Lack of offensive support proved his undoing.

Floyd allowed only three hits, but his teammates went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position as the Texas Rangers earned a 2-1 decision over the Chicago White Sox.

Floyd allowed two runs with five strikeouts and one walk in seven-plus innings and 110 pitches, but Texas starter C.J. Wilson was a little better.

Texas' three hits matched the fewest for the team in a victory in the 18-year history of Rangers Ballpark, but Floyd wasn't pointing any fingers at the faltering White Sox offense.

"We're all fighting out there," Floyd said. "Their pitcher pitched real well. We had a couple of innings when we were grinding it out, trying to produce runs, but it just didn't happen today. Our offense is good enough to put up a lot of runs. I just want to keep the team in the game. To be able to achieve that against a lineup like this ... I'll take it out there again next time."

Teammates knew they'd wasted an outstanding effort from Floyd (5-4).

"You're going to have games like that," Chicago outfielder Juan Pierre said. "But when we get a pitching performance by Gavin like that, we've got to score more. He has top-five stuff in the league with his curve and his cutter. He can do that every time he goes out there. He had such a good performance today, but we couldn't muster any runs."

Wilson (5-3) lasted into the seventh inning, and Ian Kinsler's RBI single produced the eventual winning run for the Rangers.

Wilson allowed one run and five hits in 6 1-3 innings to help Texas win for the third time in four games. The left-hander struck out five.

Both teams had reasons to be tired. The White Sox had earned an 8-6 victory in a game that started early Tuesday night and ended at 1:27 Wednesday morning following a rain delay of almost three hours.

Stormy weather passed through the area, and Wednesday's game was played under sunny skies.

Neftali Feliz issued consecutive one-out walks in the ninth, but got A.J. Pierzynski to fly out with runners on first and third for his 10th save in 12 chances as Texas took the deciding game of the three-game series.

Wilson gave up a single to Pierre leading off the game, then recorded the next 16 outs before Gordon Beckham's one-out single in the sixth.

Brent Morel, the next batter, bounced into a double play.

Wilson carried a two-hit shutout into the seventh before the White Sox broke through.

Chicago put runners on first and third on one-out singles by Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Quentin. Paul Konerko's RBI single ended the shutout bid, and ended Wilson's 103-pitch outing.

Reliever Mark Lowe got Alex Rios to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The White Sox threatened again in the eighth with runners on first and third and one out. Lefty Darren Oliver came on to strike out pinch hitter Adam Dunn, and retire Pierre on a forceout.

In the third inning, David Murphy's leadoff grounder kicked off the glove of Beckham at second base for an error, and Murphy took third on Yorvit Torrealba's ground-rule double. Beckham ended a string of 299 consecutive chances and 60 games without an error.

Murphy came home on Mitch Moreland's sacrifice fly, and Kinsler followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

Even with Floyd on top of his game, that was all the offense the Rangers would need.

"When you pitch that well against a lineup like that with no holes in it you've done well," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Gavin was very good and when I wanted to go to the bullpen, they did a good job."

NOTES: The White Sox have six starters for what's traditionally a five-man rotation, and that's the kind of math that can give a manager headaches. The six-man setup probably will be history when the 10-game road trip ends June 1. The Sox have two days off scheduled in the first two weeks in June. Guillen said he's not worried about hurting anyone's feelings when he has to inform one of his pitchers that he'll be moving to the bullpen. "It's not about one guy," Guillen said. "It's about the ballclub. I have a job to do, and that's to do what's best for the team." ... Guillen held Dunn out of the starting lineup despite Dunn's homer on Tuesday night. Prior to that, Dunn had been in a 3-for-33 slump. ... Pierre stretched his hitting streak to 10 games.

[Associated Press]

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