Garcia sharp early but takes loss to Royals

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen wasn't sure what he was going to get from Freddy Garcia Tuesday night, but he knew what he wanted.

"I expect Freddy to throw me 9 innings," Guillen said. "Every pitcher that goes out there, I expect them to go more than 6. Freddy should be fine. The scouting report we have for him, he's OK. He will dictate to me how many innings he can go."

Taking the mound in a major-league game for the first time since Sept. 29 of last season, when he was with the Detroit Tigers, Garcia got a rousing ovation from the U.S. Cellular Field crowd of 28,812.

And the 32-year-old pitcher also had his teammates fired up in the dugout before heading out to the mound and making his first start for the Sox since Sept. 29, 2006.

Garcia was sharp through the first two innings, holding the Royals scoreless while allowing the first of Billy Butler's 3 doubles.

And the White Sox' offense gave the veteran right-hander plenty of early support, scoring a run off Kansas City starter Gil Meche in the first inning and adding 3 more in third on Paul Konerko's solo home run and Carlos Quentin's 2-run shot.

When he was winning 40 games with the Sox from 2004-06, Garcia likely would have locked down the lead. But after such a lengthy layoff, Garcia didn't show much stamina against the Royals, who rallied for a 5-4 victory.

The loss dropped the White Sox 3 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central.

Garcia (0-1) pitched 41 innings and allowed 5 runs on 7 hits. He threw 91 pitches in his comeback outing.

"Freddy threw the ball good enough for me," Guillen said. "His breaking ball was pretty sharp. Obviously, his first game out there in almost a year, it's not an easy thing. He handled it pretty well."

Garcia gave up a run in the third inning, 2 in the fourth and 2 more in the fifth. His fastball ranged from 88-91 mph.

"I should have trusted my fastball more," Garcia said. "They were waiting on my slider."

Garcia was excited to be back in the major leagues, especially with the White Sox. But he wasn't happy with the abbreviated outing.

"I was really disappointed," Garcia said. "We scored 4 runs and I couldn't hold the lead."

The Sox' offense was equally disappointing.

After scoring 4 runs early, the bats went quiet against K.C. relievers Robinson Tejada and Joakim Soria, who combined for 4 hitless innings.

"Tejada was very, very good," Guillen said. "He was throwing changeups in fastball counts, and he threw strikes when he needed to. The last four innings, the game was very boring."

The White Sox just hope it wasn't too costly, since the Tigers rallied to beat the Seattle Mariners to extend their lead in the Central.

"I think the easiest thing to do is get down," Konerko said. "It seems like we never get over that hump, but you have to keep pushing until you get there."

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