Indians' Lee shuts out Sox to win 20th game

CLEVELAND - Indians ace Cliff Lee earned his 20th win of the season Monday night. Credit White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski with the assist.

In the fourth inning of Cleveland's 5-0 victory over the Sox at Progressive Field, Pierzynski worked the count to 3-2 before popping out to shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

"I had a good pitch to hit, and I just missed it," Pierzynski said. "I slammed my bat down and yelled (bleep).

"Maybe he thought I was yelling at him, but I wasn't. I didn't say anything. I was mad because I missed a 3-2 pitch and popped up. It didn't mean anything toward him. You miss a pitch, you pop up against a guy that good, you can't miss pitches to hit. Oh, well."

Lee and Pierzynski were sniping and staring at each other all night, and the Indians' left-hander said that provided some needed motivation.

"He slammed his bat down and stared me down, so I stared back," Lee said after pitching a complete game. "He was chirping in the dugout, and it gave me a little extra energy. Actually, I appreciate him doing that."

Pierzynski, notorious for getting under the skin of opponents, said Lee kept the feud burning.

"I don't know; it was one of those things," Pierzynski said. "My next at-bat (in the seventh inning), I hit a groundball and ran to first and he said something else. In my last at-bat, I hit a flyball and he was still looking at me. So I don't know.

"I didn't say anything to him the whole game, so I don't know where that would have come from or what would have caused it. But he pitched a great game and deserves a lot of credit, and congrats to him for winning 20 games."

Controversy or no controversy, Lee (20-2, 2.32 ERA) all but locked up the American League Cy Young Award with the stellar outing.

"He's a 20-game winner for a reason," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "He threw the ball really good; he threw strikes.

"I'm not his pitching coach or manager, but I think the problem he had in the past was he was a little wild. Now he's put it together; it's been a great year for him. That's the best I've ever seen him throw."

The Sox actually had a good chance to do some damage against Lee when Orlando Cabrera led off the first inning with a single and Pierzynski followed suit.

But after Carlos Quentin struck out, Jermaine Dye hit a hard liner up the middle that second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera gloved and turned into a double play.

After Pierzynski's single, Lee retired 21 straight hitters before Paul Konerko singled with one out in the eighth.

"We had an opportunity right away, then he shut it down," Guillen said. "I thought we could do better in the first inning and then he went out and dominated the rest of the guys. After that it was history."

Clayton Richard took the loss after allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks over 4 innings. The rookie left-hander also made another costly fielding error, his third of an abbreviated season.

"That's a big part of the game," Guillen said. "When a pitcher makes those plays, it's going to help him. That's the third or fourth time it happened. He's got to get better."

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