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Peavy pitches in relief, leads Sox past Nats

Jake Peavy threw four dominant innings in his first career relief appearance and the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 on Saturday.

Washington, which won 12 of its previous 13, is on the verge of hiring Davey Johnson as its new manager. General manager Mike Rizzo told Fox that Johnson has agreed to terms but there are still contract details to be worked out before an announcement can be made.

Peavy (4-1) gave up a hit and struck out seven, combining with starter John Danks, Brian Bruney and closer Sergio Santos on a two-hitter that snapped Washington's five-game winning streak. White Sox pitchers also combined for 13 strikeouts.

The White Sox scored their runs on Carlos Quentin's sacrifice fly in the first and Ramon Castro's two-run single in the eighth. Brent Morel had three hits for Chicago.

Danks left with two outs in the second inning because on a strained right oblique. Bruney gave up a hit in 2 1-3 innings, and Santos followed Peavy by getting the last three outs for his 15th save.

Peavy, who threw 104 pitches in his last start on Wednesday, made 55 pitches in his first appearance out of the bullpen after 238 career starts.

Chicago native and former Cub Tom Gorzelanny (2-6) matched his longest outing of the season with seven innings, allowing one run and seven hits while striking out eight.

The Nationals fell to 1-1 under interim manager John McLaren after Jim Riggleman shockingly resigned on Thursday because of a contract dispute.

The White Sox, who have won 17 straight interleague series, have won 18 of their last 23 games against the National League.

Chicago opened the scoring with a run in the first. Brent Lillibridge and Morel singled back-to-back leading off the inning and putting runners on the corners. Lillibridge scored on Quentin's sacrifice fly to left.

In the second inning, after Danks delivered a pitch on which Washington's Jerry Hairston Jr. flied out with a runner on second base, Danks started to run over to back up third base, before pulling up and grabbing his right side, around the hip area. Danks threw a couple of warmup pitches before walking off into the White Sox dugout.

Danks, who started the season 0-8, had won three straight starts entering Saturday's game. He threw 26 pitches, striking out two and hitting a batter in 1 2-3 hitless innings.

The Nationals had little success against the White Sox's group pitching effort, but twice had runners reach second base in first six innings only to come up empty.

In the second, Danny Espinosa was hit by a pitch and stole second, but was stranded when Hairston Jr. and Ivan Rodriguez flew out.

In the sixth, Ian Desmond singled with two outs and went to second on Peavy's throwing error on a pickoff attempt. However, Ryan Zimmerman struck out for the third time in the game to end the threat.

The White Sox were getting plenty of runners with hits in each of first six innings. But they scored just one run off Gorzelanny and stranded eight.

Chicago broke through against the Washington bullpen in the eighth, loading the bases twice against reliever Henry Rodriguez. With one out, Castro blooped a single to right to score a pair or runs.

Gorzelanny gave up five runs and 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings in his last start, his first after coming off the disabled list because of elbow inflammation, and was 0-3 with a 7.65 ERA going back to May 7.

Chicago's Adam Dunn started at first base despite his struggles against left-handed pitchers this season. He struck out in his first three at-bats against Gorzelanny, giving him 96 on the season, most in the American League, and falling to for 52 against lefties. He walked against Rodriguez in the eighth.

NOTES: Both bullpens were a little short after Friday's 14-inning marathon in which Washington used eight pitchers and Chicago seven. Nationals interim manager said Tyler Clippard wasn't available for Saturday's game. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain likely would not pitch. ... Espinosa's stolen base in the second inning extended the streak of successful steals against the White Sox to 21 straight. However, Roger Bernadina was thrown out by Castro in the third, breaking the streak. Replays showed the throw was probably late. ... The Nationals are 7-4 in interleague this season after going 5-13 last season. ... Zimmerman struck out in each of his first three at-bats and is just one for his last 20 dating back to June 21. Peavy's seven strikeouts were the most by a White Sox reliever since Brandon McCarthy struck out eight in 5 2-3 relief innings against the Angels on Sept. 11, 2005.