Hudson outduels Jackson with 3-hitter
On Friday night at least, the Arizona Diamondbacks got the better of last year's Edwin Jackson-Daniel Hudson trade.
Limiting the White Sox to a sole infield hit through 5 innings while retiring 16 straight batters during that stretch, Hudson kept Chicago bats cold in interleague play in hot Arizona.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Hudson has racked up a 15-6 record on the mound since last July 30, when White Sox general manager Kenny Williams dealt him and pitcher David Holmberg for the 27-year-old Jackson (4-6).
Throwing a 3-hitter in Friday's 4-1 Diamondbacks win, Hudson is 8-1 over his last 10 games.
A 24-year-old right-hander who threw 84 strikes in 119 pitches, Hudson (8-5) made one apparent mistake, to Paul Konerko. That could be forgiven with the way the big first baseman is hitting — .439 over his last 15 games entering Chase Field.
Konerko deposited Hudson's second pitch of the seventh inning well into the left field stands for his 17th home run of the season.
It also stands as Konerko's 382nd of his career, passing Albert Belle and joining Frank Howard and Jim Rice in 59th place all-time.
It was only the fifth home run Hudson has allowed in 101 innings this season, His low- to mid-90s fastball, straight change and sinker bore down on White Sox batters, already in a funk after scoring 1 total run in a pair of losses to the Minnesota Twins.
Aside from Konerko's blast, the only time Hudson allowed the White Sox to reach second base was in the first inning on Alexei Ramirez's infield single and Carlos Quentin's walk to push Ramirez to second.
Mainly, Hudson entertained groundballs. Thirteen of the outs Hudson recorded were bouncers to infielders like shortstop Stephen Drew, who assisted on 10 putouts. Hudson capped his first complete game of the season starting a 1-6-3 double play.
A lifetime .276 hitter, Hudson also rapped a two-out, opposite-field double to score Ryan Roberts for a 3-1 Diamondbacks lead, chasing Jackson in the process.
As well as Hudson threw, Jackson was not far behind in this first duel between the two pitchers.
Entering with a record of 8-4 in 16 career starts against his former teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay and Detroit, Jackson gave up 2 first-inning runs before settling down to retire eight straight at one point.
It looked like Jackson would either get a quick hook or have a long night after a 29-pitch first inning and 51 pitches after two innings. The hard-throwing Jackson's slider finally took hold, but the other right-hander out there was just that much better.