Buehrle's Sox take series opener

As it concerns starting pitcher Mark Buehrle, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen put it best before Friday's game: "When he's good, he's really good. When he's bad, he's really bad."

Following 2 straight losses in which Buehrle was really bad, lowlighted by an 8-run, 14-hit bludgeoning last Saturday in Kansas City, the really good Buehrle reversed his fortunes by holding the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox to 4 hits over 7-plus innings to help secure a 5-3 White Sox victory in front of a sellout crowd of 38,621.

The win kept the White Sox a half-game ahead of Minnesota, which won 4-1 in Kansas City.

Oddly, the pitcher didn't declare himself the "really good" Buehrle after the game, just good enough to win.

"Today was one of those days when my best pitch, my cutter, was probably my worst pitch," said Buehrle, who improved to 9-10. "I had the changeup working, I threw a lot of curveballs for strikes, and I had good command and good speed on my fastball. It was one of those days when my best pitch wasn't even working for me."

Therefore, it didn't hurt that the White Sox' offense reversed Boston starter Jon Lester's recent fortunes as well, snapping his personal seven-game winning streak and handing the cancer survivor his first loss since May 25.

The White Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Juan Uribe singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pierzynski.

Orlando Cabrera made it 3-0 in the fifth with a double to the right-field corner that drove home Nick Swisher and Alexei Ramirez. Cabrera then stretched the lead to 4-0 in the seventh by scampering home after Pierzynski singled and subsequently got caught in a pickle between first and second.

"I thought it kicked away from (right fielder J.D. Drew)," Pierzynski explained. "Then I looked up and the ball's on its way to second and I was like, 'Oh, (shoot), I'm out. Let's try to make something positive here and hopefully get the run to score.'"

The Red Sox pulled themselves off the canvas, however. After Jason Varitek chased Buehrle with a single to lead off the eighth, reliever Octavio Dotel walked Drew before surrendering a 3-run home run to left by Dustin Pedroia on a 2-2 slider.

"I did him a favor," Dotel said. "His bat was on my fastball, so then I throw a slider and I just sped up his bat. That's why he got a good swing. I should have thrown my fastball where I was throwing it and not thrown the slider."

Matt Thornton entered and retired David Ortiz (0-for-3) on a groundout, and D.J. Carrasco walked Kevin Youkilis before inducing a foul pop from Mike Lowell to end the threat.

Carlos Quentin gave the White Sox some insurance by clubbing a Manny Delcarmen pitch in the bottom of the eighth for his American League-best 31st home run.