Mark Buehrle gives up 1 hit in 8 innings of 6-0 victory
Like they did so many times during their 2008 American League Central title season, the White Sox responded to a vocal challenge from manager Ozzie Guillen.
Mark Buehrle carried Guillen's mission one step further Thursday night as he retired the first 19 batters before settling for a 6-0 victory over Detroit to snap the Sox's four-game losing streak.
"We needed this one," Guillen said.
Buehrle lost his bid for a perfect game when Placido Polanco lined a one-out, two-strike double down the left-field line in the seventh inning. After receiving warm applause, Buehrle walked two batters before Gerald Laird flied out to center.
White Sox' Mark Buerhle flirts with no-hitter, beats Tigers 6-0
Hours before his team's game against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, White Sox general manager Ken Williams issued a warning to his pitching staff that it might want to start protecting a lineup that suddenly has become target practice for opposing hurlers.
''You've got to be tough through this season,'' Williams said. ''You can't allow other teams to pitch inside and knock your players down and not reciprocate. You have to establish the inside part of the plate and move hitters off the plate in order to open it up more. If you don't do that and allow the other team to do it to your hitters, then you're losing at both ends.''
By the time the sixth inning ended, it was the Tigers' lineup that was looking for protection -- from facing Sox lefty Mark Buehrle.
Buehrle (5-0) retired the first 19 Tigers he faced, taking a perfect game into the seventh until second baseman Placido Polanco broke it up with a one-out double down the left-field line. It was the only hit allowed in eight innings by Buehrle, who struck out five and walked two in the 6-0 victory.
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