The Indians staged an unexpected rally, only to see Chicago score four times in the 11th to earn the victory.
Indians manager Manny Acta is too late to keep Jayson Nix from being ejected by home plate umpire Bill Welke in the seventh inning of Monday's game at Progressive Field. Nix complained about a called third strike to end the inning, and was tossed by Welke.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The White Sox needed Manny Ramirez on Monday night, but Brent Lillbridge and Omar Vizquel did just fine. What exactly Mitch Talbot needs is a topic for late nights and pots of coffee.
Before the Indians' deep thinkers delve into Talbot, they should take a minute and try to figure out how they worked themselves back into a seemingly lost cause before finally losing, 10-6, in 11 innings to the White Sox at Progressive Field.
The Indians, trailing 6-3, scored three runs in the ninth off closer Bobby Jenks to force extra innings. Shin-Soo Choo started the rally with a leadoff walk and steal of second. Shelley Duncan scored him with a bloop single to left. The single was Duncan's third hit of the night.
Travis Hafner doubled Duncan to third. It was his fourth hit, and third double, of the game. Luis Valbuena, who came into the game in the seventh after Jayson Nix was ejected, sent a high-chop single to second. Duncan scored and Hafner followed him home with the tying run as Brent Lillbridge threw wildly past first.
There were still no outs, but Jenks retired the next three batters on ground outs with Valbuena, the winning run, stranded at third.
The White Sox won it in the 11th as Lillbridge atoned for his error with a two-out homer off Rafael Perez (4-1). Chicago added three more on consecutive doubles by Vizquel and Alex Rios and Paul Konerko's single.
Talbot, the Indians' rookie right-hander who won eight games before the All-Star break, remained winless since the break as Chicago bumped and bruised him over five innings.
When a pitcher puts a lot of batters on base, manager Manny Acta refers to them as "traffic." Talbot pitched in a rush-hour snarl for four of his five innings. In his first four innings, he faced 24 White Sox. That's a 50 percent increase over the required limit.
Fourteen of batters reached base and five of them scored. It wasn't until the fifth inning -- yes, he was still in the game -- that Talbot finally retired the White Sox in order.
Talbot is 0-5 with a 6.44 ERA in his last nine starts. He has not won a game since June 27 against Cincinnati.
Three of Talbot's first-half victories were against Chicago. If he was going to snap the streak, Talbot was facing the right team.
This is a different White Sox team than the Indians last saw in early June. They're 47-27 since June 9. That included a 25-5 charge to end the first half and put them in first place in the AL Central.
They've struggled since then, losing 13 of their last 21 games, to fall into second place behind the Twins. That's why Ramirez was claimed on waivers from the Dodgers.
They hit Talbot early and often. Paul Konerko's double in the first gave Chicago a 2-0 lead. Vizquel and Rios singled in front of him.
Chicago made it 5-0 with three more runs in the second as they sent eight men to the plate. Alexei Ramirez singled and scored on Mark Kotsay's double. Gordon Beckham, who left the game in the seventh after getting hit on the right hand by a pitch from Frank Herrmann, singled to put Kotsay on third. After Talbot hit Juan Pierre to load the bases, Rios scored Kotsay and Beckman with a bloop single to right.
Talbot, who has done a good job recovering from rocky starts, did it again Monday. He gave up a pair of two-out singles in the third, but Duncan saved him with a fine catch of Pierre's liner in left to end the inning.
He loaded the bases with one out in the out in the fourth, but escaped when A.J. Pierzynski hit into a double play.
Mark Buehrle was in line for his 13th victory. He allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings. He left with a 6-3 lead only to watch Jenks waste it. It was Jenks' fourth blown save.
Nix kept the Indians in the game with a two-run homer in the fourth. It was his 12th of the season, 11 coming after the Indians claimed him on waivers from the White Sox.
Plate umpire Bill Welke ejected Nix for arguing a called third strike to end the seventh. It was the first ejection in Nix's career.
Hafner made it 6-3 in the fifth with his second double. Hafner reached base in his first five plate appearances -- one walk and four hits.