PPittsburgh, PA -- (Sports Network) - Mark Buehrle hurled eight innings of one- run ball to lead the Chicago White Sox over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1, at PNC Park.
Buehrle (4-3) scattered nine hits, walked a batter and struck out four to earn the 101st victory of his career. The crafty left-hander threw 113 pitches - 75 for strikes - and has continued to fare well in interleague play since the start of the 2005 season, improving to 6-1 in nine starts against the National League. Ryan Bukvich worked a perfect ninth.
"Start winning series," said Buehrle, of what the Sox need to do from here on out. "We can't worry about numbers and we can't worry about who's in front of us. Obviously we know that Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota are in front of us and they're not going to give up. They're playing good baseball. We can't be looking at numbers we just have to start doing what we need to do to win ballgames."
Josh Fields provided the majority of the offense, clubbing a two-run homer and adding a run-scoring double for the Sox, who snapped a six-game skid on the road, and a four-game losing streak overall.
John Van Benschoten (0-1), who made his first major league start in almost three years, yielded two runs on three hits, walked three and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings in the loss. The 2001 first-round draft pick is taking the spot of Shawn Chacon, who was recently moved to the bullpen.
The right-handed Van Benschoten has spent most of his time rehabbing from operations on both shoulders since going 1-3 with a 6.91 ERA in six games (five starts) for Pittsburgh in 2004.
"It was just the fast ball, basically," said Van Benschoten. "It was moving around a lot. So I kept them guessing about what side of the plate it was going to. Getting the fastball over is key no matter what level you're on."
Ryan Doumit had a pair of hits and knocked in the lone run for the Pirates, who have dropped two of three.
The White Sox jumped on Benschoten for a pair of runs in the second to grab the early lead. Jermaine Dye drew a one-out walk, Alex Cintron's single moved him to third, and Rob Mackowiak's groundout scored Dye. Fields followed with a double to left, plating Cintron to make it 2-0.
The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the frame, as Adam LaRoche doubled and scored on Doumit's two-out single.
Chicago added two more in the seventh, as Mackowiak legged out a bunt single and Fields slugged a two-run homer to left-center.
A.J. Pierzynski singled, Paul Konerko followed with a double, and after Cintron was intentionally walked with one out, Mackowiak's sac fly scored Pierzynski to make it a 5-1 margin in the eighth.
Tadahito Iguchi's RBI double in the ninth accounted for the final margin.
Game Notes
Buehrle has won both career starts against the Pirates, with the first one coming last June 27...The White Sox have not lost seven straight road games since dropping eight in a row from May 15-23, 2001...Pirates manager Jim Tracy missed the game and will also be absent for the series finale on Sunday to attend college graduation ceremonies for his son. Bench coach Jim Lett is the acting manager in his absence...Attendance was 36,610.
