Peavy pitches White Sox past Blue Jays, 7-3

It was apparent to everyone early on that Jake Peavy had the stuff. The type of stuff that makes everyone a witness to history.

He retired the first 16 batters with ease until Toronto catcher John Buck stepped to the plate. Buck, who homered twice Friday night, put Peavy's 1-2 pitch into the White Sox bullpen in left field, breaking up Peavy's no-hit bid.

"We saw greatness in the past (from Peavy)," said a not surprised White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen after the White Sox beat Toronto 7-3 at U.S. Cellular Field.

Guillen said Peavy's only problem was he wasn't throwing strikes.

"Every time he throws strikes that kid is nasty," Guillen said. "Everybody knows about it. If Peavy throws strikes he does very good in this league."

And he did very well Saturday, striking out eight and not allowing a walk in 8 innings.

"I expect to do what I've done the last few times out," Peavy said. "I told (the media) that when I got traded over here I had success my whole career other than a few bumps in the road."

Peavy has continued to throw the ball well since getting roughed up by the Texas Rangers in the first inning on April 28 when he allowed 5 runs on 4 hits. Since then, Peavy has allowed just 3 runs in his last 201/3 innings (1.33 ERA).

"I felt great in that Texas start and I was able to build on that the last two times out," he said. "I feel I feel like I should be able to go out and win. (Next) Saturday night in Kansas City, I'm going to prepare for that start, and I feel like I should give the ball club a good chance to win."

Paul Konerko (1-for-3, 2 RBI) returned to the lineup and hit his 13th home run in the first inning.

"I was battling," he said. "I had a 3-2 count and the guy has a good change. I wanted to stay off it down and away."

Gordon Beckham returned after Guillen sat him yesterday to clear his mind. Beckham reached base three times in 5 at-bats and appeared to be seeing the ball well, drawing 2 walks.

"Gordon set the tone (in the first inning)," Konerko said. "He had a nice at-bat. He laid off some tough pitches and set the tone."

The Sox put the game out of reach in the seventh inning when they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored 4 runs.

"When we scored those runs, that's what we needed," Guillen said. "(We gave our) pitchers room for mistake. It's not easy to go out there every day and be down by 1 or up by 1. You need to make a perfect pitch."