CLEVELAND, 19 July 2005 — Jon Garland pitched six shutout innings for his 14th win of the season as the Chicago White Sox completed a four-game series sweep with a 4-0 win over the Cleveland Indians in the American League in Cleveland on Sunday.
Garland became the AL’s first 14-game winner to give the White Sox their first four-game sweep in Cleveland in 42 years.
Garland (14-4) allowed seven hits while striking out two and walking two as the White Sox opened the post-All-Star schedule after losing three straight at Oakland before the break.
Chicago is 30-5 against the AL Central and improved to a major league best 61-29 with the victory.
Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte completed the eight-hitter for Chicago. Tadahito Iguchi and A J Pierzynski homered for the White Sox.
Scott Podsednik added two hits and scored a run for the winners, while Aaron Rowland also had two of Chicago’s eight hits.
Scott Elarton (6-4) gave up four runs on eight hits over seven innings and took the loss. He struck out three and walked one. Victor Martinez had two hits for the Indians.
In other AL games, Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer as the Kansas City Royals beat the Tigers 5-0 in a game that featured a bench-clearing brawl in Detroit.
Runelvys Hernandez (7-9) pitched five innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out two for the win.
Hernandez was ejected in the sixth after inciting the brawl by hitting his third batter, Carlo Guillen, in the head with a ball. Three players from each team and Kansas City manager Buddy Bell were all ejected.
Mark Teahen homered for the Royals.
Mike Maroth (7-10) pitched 6-1/3 innings, allowing four runs — three earned — on nine hits, walking one and striking out four. Omar Infante had two hits for the Tigers.
In Toronto, Jorge Cantu hit a go-ahead double in the ninth as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Blue Jays 5-4.
Chad Orvella (1-1) pitched two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two for the win. Danys Baez pitched one inning for his 16th save and Julio Lugo homered for the Devil Rays.Miguel Batista (4-3) pitched one inning, allowing two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out two to take the loss.
Gregg Zaun hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays.
In Minneapolis, John Lackey pitched seven strong innings, as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1. Lackey (7-4) allowed one run on five hits, striking out 10. Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning for his 20th save and Jeff DaVanon homered for the Angels. Joe Mays (5-4) pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on two hits, walking two and striking out six to take the loss. Shannon Stewart had two hits for the Twins.
In Seattle, Miguel Olivio homered as the Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-2.
Gil Meche (10-6) pitched 6-2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits, walking four and striking out one for the win. Sidney Ponson (7-8) pitched 5-2/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits, walking three and striking out three to take the loss. Rafael Palmeiro homered for the Orioles.
In Oakland, Bobby Kielty homered in the bottom of the 14th inning to lead the Athletics past the Texas Rangers 5-4. Joe Kennedy (5-8) pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief for the win and Bobby Crosby had three hits for Oakland.
Kameron Loe (3-2) allowed the walk-off homerun and took the loss. Alfonso Soriano, Richard Hidalgo and Hank Blalock all homered for Texas. In Boston, Al Leiter pitched 6 1/3 strong innings in his return to the Yankees as New York beat the Red Sox 5-3.
Leiter (4-7) allowed one run on three hits with a season-high eight strikeouts and three walks and Mariano Rivera got the last three outs for his 23rd save.
Jorge Posada, Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez all homered for New York, which took three of the four games in the series.
Tim Wakefield (8-8) was the loser, allowing five runs on five hits over eight innings.
Johnny Damon doubled in the eighth inning, stretching his hitting streak to 29 games, and Manny Ramirez homered for Boston.
Meantime, Kansas City pitcher Runelvys Hernandez has denied intentionally hitting a Detroit batter on the head Sunday, sparking a melee which led to the ejection of six players and Royals manager Buddy Bell. “I didn’t try to hit anybody,” Hernandez told reporters after he struck Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen with a pitch in the sixth inning of Kansas City’s 5-0 win in Detroit.
“I feel sorry about that but I didn’t try to hit him on purpose.”
Guillen thought otherwise during the game and screamed at Hernandez. The two players charged at each other and both benches cleared.
Hernandez, who had hit two other players during the game, was ejected by the umpires.
Order appeared to have been restored when Guillen reached first base but, as Hernandez left the field, he said something to Guillen.
“That’s what started the whole thing again,” umpire Dana DeMuth told Major League Baseball’s official website.
As the players argued, Detroit pitcher Kyle Farnsworth slammed Kansas City reliever Jeremy Affeldt to the ground.
This time, Guillen was ejected along with team mates Farnsworth and Jeremy Bonderman. Kansas City’s Emil Brown and Alberto Castillo and manager Bell were also ejected.
