Jake Westbrook couldn't hold a pair of three-run leads as the White Sox rallied to beat the Indians.
There was plenty of frustration to go around for Shelley Duncan and the Indians, who wasted a fast start in losing, 8-7, to the White Sox Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field.ON DECK: INDIANS VS. BOSTON RED SOX
Where: Progressive Field.
When: Monday through Thursday.
TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio Monday-Wednesday, WKYC Ch. 3 on Thursday; WTAM AM/1100.
Pitching matchups: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2, 5.49) vs. RHP Fausto Carmona (4-4, 3.53) Monday at 7:05; RHP Tim Wakefield (1-4, 6.02) vs. LHP David Huff (2-6, 6.08) Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.; RHP Clay Buchholz (8-3, 2.39) vs. RHP Justin Masterson (1-5, 5.46) Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. and LHP Jon Lester (7-2, 2.73) vs. RHP Mitch Talbot (7-4, 3.54) Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
Season series: The Indians went 2-7 against Boston last season. The Indians lead, 1,011-950, overall.
Indians update: Coming off 10-game trip through New York, Detroit and Chicago in which they went 4-6. Luis Valbuena hit .350 (7-for-20), one homer, two RBI and Shin-Soo Choo .304 (7-for-23), one homer, five RBI against Boston last year. Closer Kerry Wood was 1-1 against Boston in 2009.
Red Sox update: They’ve won 11 of their last 14 games. Matsuzaka, Wakefield and Lester all beat the Tribe once last year. Victor Martinez hit .417 (5-for-12) with one homer and nine RBI against the Indians last year after being traded to the Red Sox.
Injuries: Indians — CF Grady Sizemore (left knee), SS Asdrubal Cabrera (left forearm), INF Andy Marte (infected ingrown hair) and RHP Anthony Reyes (right elbow) are on the disabled list. Red Sox — RHP Josh Beckett (back), RHP Boof Bonser (right groin, right forearm), CF Jacoby Ellsbury (left side), SS Jed Lowrie (mononucleosis) are on the disabled list. OF Mike Cameron (abdominal) and C Victor Martinez (left foot) are day to day.
Next: Washington visits for a three-game interleague series starting Friday at Progressive Field.
— Paul Hoynes CHICAGO -- They were driven out of New York, their bullpen in tatters and David Huff lucky to be alive after taking an Alex Rodriguez liner in the head.
In Detroit, they almost had a perfect game thrown against them for the first time in franchise history -- only to be saved by a blown call on the 27th and final out. Then they witnessed the biggest lovefest since San Francisco's Summer of Love in 1967, but it wasn't to celebrate free love and pot, it was for the umpire who blew the call.
Finally, they came to Chicago and had a chance to separate themselves from all the madness and go home with 5-5 record on this 10-game trip by completing a three-game sweep of the White Sox on Sunday. It looked good for a while, but Jake Westbrook couldn't hold a pair of three-run leads as the White Sox rallied to beat the Indians, 8-7.
When asked about the trip, Shin-Soo Choo simply said, "Not too good."
Said manager Manny Acta, "I'm disappointed we couldn't win the ballgame and end the trip at .500. We started the right way, scoring six runs off their No.1 guy and got him out of the third inning.
"But I could tell Jake wasn't going to have his best day. He was searching for his right arm slot."
For the curious, Westbrook has two arm slots, one over the top and one from a three-quarters delivery. He wasn't good from either angle Sunday.
"I lost this game for us," said Westbrook.
The Indians jumped Mark Buehrle for a 3-0 lead in the first. Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run double after Shin-Soo Choo's single and an Austin Kearns double. Shelley Duncan followed with the Tribe's third straight double to make it 3-0.
The first indication that it wasn't going to be Westbrook's day was the two-run homer Paul Konerko hit in the bottom of the inning. Konerko came into the game hitting .308 (20-for-65) with three career homers against Westbrook.
"He's got great numbers against me," said Westbrook. "I can't make that good a pitch to him right there."
The Indians put another three-run inning together in the third, as catcher Lou Marson hit a two-out, three-run homer off Buehrle. It was his first homer as an Indian and his second in the big leagues. It also ended an 0-for-19 slump.
Westbrook, however, couldn't stop the White Sox, who had lost eight of the previous 11 games between the two teams this year.
Trailing 6-2, the White Sox scored one run in the fourth and three in the fifth. Westbrook has allowed 18 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings against Chicago.
Carlos Quentin's two-out single off shortstop Luis Valbuena's glove behind second base scored Alex Rios to make it 6-3 in the fourth. Rios reached on a leadoff double.
Chicago tied it in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Omar Vizquel and RBI singles by Rios and Mark Kotsay. Westbrook was gone after Kotsay's single. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The White Sox broke the tie in the seventh on Quentin's two-run, two-out single off Rafael Perez. Tony Sipp (0-2) and Jensen Lewis created a bases-loaded jam. Perez retired Kotsay, but Quentin sent his 0-2 pitch through the middle.
The Indians made it 8-7 on Kearns RBI double in the eighth. Kearns went 8-for-13 in the series.
• Manny Acta loses a mentor with John Wooden's passing: Indians Insider
• Box score | Minor League Report
It was a brutal trip for Sipp. Not only did he take the loss Sunday, but in four appearances, the left-hander allowed 12 runs on nine hits in 1 1/3 innings. Overall, Tribe relievers allowed 33 runs in 26 2/3 innings. The pen went 1-3 with three saves overall.
"You can always make moves," said Acta, "but you just don't make moves whenever guys are struggling. You have to give them time to get back into it.
"It's not like going to the supermarket and buying five pounds of sugar and then go get another five pounds later. That's not the way it works. Some of them are just going to have to ride it out and get right."
Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth for his ninth save.