Sox capitalize on Cleveland’s mistake

CLEVELAND — Edwin Jackson beat Cleveland for the ninth straight time after Indians rookie Ezequiel Carrera dropped an easy fly ball in center field to give the White Sox two runs in a 4-2 victory Sunday.

Jackson (7-7) allowed one run and four hits over six innings to go to 9-1 in his career against Cleveland. He is 9-0 with a 2.61 ERA against the Indians since losing to them on Aug. 17, 2007, when he was with Tampa Bay.

Adam Dunn lofted a pitch from Justin Masterson (8-7) to straightaway center with two outs in the sixth and runners on first and second. Carrera camped under the towering fly near the warning track. He looked up, stumbled to his right, then ducked as the ball glanced off his glove and fell to the ground.

It put Chicago ahead 3-1, scoring Omar Vizquel, who had singled, and Paul Konerko, who was intentionally walked to face Dunn, hitting .161.

Sergio Santos got the final two outs for his 20th save in 23 chances.

Jesse Crain, Chris Sale and Santos pitched three hitless innings of relief. Crain worked the seventh, Sale struck out the side on 12 pitches in the eighth and got the first out in the ninth. Santos issued a walk before closing it out.

The White Sox, 38-29 since May 7, improved to 6-1 against the Indians this year, and moved within two games of .500. They host AL Central-leading Detroit in a three-game series starting Monday. Cleveland has lost four straight and nine of 13. The Indians now lead the third-place White Sox by only 2½ games.

The Indians got one of the runs back in their sixth. Asdrubal Cabrera walked and took off for second before Travis Hafner lined a ball to right-center. Cabrera never stopped, scoring all the way from first on the hard-hit single to make it 3-2.

Two more Cleveland errors restored Chicago’s two-run lead in the seventh. Alex Rios reached when Cabrera backed up on his soft liner, which bounced on the infield dirt and then off the shortstop’s glove. Rios stole second and continued to third when catcher Carlos Santana threw wildly. Mark Teahen singled home Rios to make it 4-2.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the first on a groundout by Konerko, but Cleveland tied it in the fifth on Carrera’s two-out line single to right.

Masterson allowed one earned run and four hits over seven innings. The right-hander walked only one and struck out six. He is 1-2 with a 1.23 ERA against the White Sox this season.