CLEVELAND — The White Sox bats picked up where they left off on Saturday, producing five runs in the first two innings, getting another big hit from Carlos Quentin in the seventh and defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-3 before 9,853 fans at Progressive Field.
A day after scoring 11 runs in the first four innings of their 15-10 win in the season opener, the Sox got two more hits and two more RBI each from Quentin and Gordon Beckham, and six solid innings from starting pitcher Edwin Jackson to improve to 2-0 for the first time since their World Series championship season of 2005.
Quentin’s second double of the game drove in Paul Konerko and Alex Rios to give the Sox a five-run lead in the seventh inning.
“I think the biggest hit of the day was when Carlos hit the double late in the game,” Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I think that made us feel a little bit more comfortable going to the last three innings with the lead, especially with the way they swung the bat last night and the way they swung the bat today.”
After Jackson allowed three runs (two earned) over his 99-pitch outing in six innings, left-hander Chris Sale and right-hander Sergio Santos combined to pitch three scoreless innnings to finish out the game.
“Everybody’s swinging the bat pretty good and they feel comfortable,” Guillen said. “The main thing about baseball is to try to keep it as long as you can when you’re hitting well. Make sure you stay on the same path and make sure you don’t change anything.”
Jackson improved to 8-0 in his last nine starts against the Indians. He is 4-0 with a 1.74 ERA at Cleveland. He gave up three runs, two of them earned, and struck out seven while walking four.
“It was just a matter of finding my rhythm,” said Jackson, who settled in after giving up three runs in the second inning. “The first couple of innings, I didn’t have too much rhythm. You give up an 0-2 hit and that’s what you want to do, catching too much of the plate. They took advantage of it. It’s a battle, not a war. Just keep fighting and keep your team in the game. That’s what I tried to do.”
Indians starter Carlos Carrasco gave up seven runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings.
The Sox have won eight of their last nine games against the Indians and go for the series sweep on Sunday with lefty John Danks pitching against right-hander Justin Masterson.
Danks visited a dentist in Cleveland because of a bad toothache but said he will be ready to pitch today.
