White Sox overcome ejections of starting pitcher Mark Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen to beat Indians, 5-4.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For a team in desperate need of victories, a gift does not come much bigger.
Starting pitcher Jake Westbrook gave up 5 runs in 7 innings in the Indians' loss on Wednesday at Progressive Field.The Indians watched the opposing pitcher, White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle, leave in the third inning of a scoreless game -- and they had almost nothing to do with it.
Buehrle was ejected by first-base umpire Joe West, who called him for a second balk on a move to first. One inning earlier, West tossed Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen in the moments following Buehrle's first balk.
Buehrle, author of a perfect game and no-hitter in his career, had posted quality starts in each of his two previous outings against the Indians this season.
The Indians showed their gratitude by performing sloppily until the ninth, when they scored three. But the tying and winning runs were left on base in a 5-4 loss.
With the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Austin Kearns struck out against Bobby Jenks. Russell Branyan flied to left to end the game.
The Indians (17-28) committed four errors in losing for the eighth time in 10 games. They served up the clunker less than 24 hours after arguably their best all-around performance produced a 7-3 victory Saturday night.
The White Sox (20-26) won two of three in the series and improved to 3-6 against Cleveland.
Chicago scored three in the fourth for a 3-0 advantage.
Juan Pierre doubled to left-center and advanced to third on a grounder. After Alex Rios walked, Paul Konerko drove in Pierre with a single to left. Kearns made an errant throw attempting to get Rios at third, allowing Konerko to move to second.
Mark Kotsay was intentionally walked. Tribe righty Jake Westbrook struck out Carlos Quentin but gave up a two-run single to Mark Teahen.
The Indians pulled within 3-1 in their half of the third.
Kearns led off with a single and moved to third on Branyan's double to right. Tony Pena replaced Randy Williams and gave up a sacrifice fly to Jhonny Peralta.
Matt LaPorta grounded to shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who cut down Branyan at third. Branyan took off as the ball was hit, stopped and restarted.
Luis Valbuena struck out looking for the third out.
Pena gave up two hits in four innings.
The White Sox made it 5-1 on Kotsay's two-run homer in the sixth.
The Tribe put runners on first and second in the sixth. Nothing else happened because of a flyout, flyout and groundout.
West called a balk on Buehrle in the second for breaking the plane on his stride toward first, where Matt LaPorta stood after a single. Buehrle apparently squawked at West, who began moving toward Buehrle. Guillen came out to keep the peace but became enraged when West dismissively waved him back to the dugout.
In the third, West called another balk on Buehrle for the same reason. Jason Donald was on first. Buehrle's first reaction was to drop his glove, which West viewed as showing him up. West immediately tossed him.
Buehrle, who threw 36 pitches in his 2 1/3 innings, was relieved by lefty Randy Williams.
With runners on first and third, Williams got Shin-Soo Choo to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the game scoreless.
Tribe right-hander Jake Westbrook allowed one hit -- a bunt single by Alexei Ramirez with one out in the third. Westbrook reached the ball along the third-base side but had not play. Moments later, Ramirez was erased on a 4-3-6 double play.