Major League Baseball

White Sox shut out Indians as Samardzija gets better of Kluber

Published Apr. 22, 2015 7:26 p.m. ET

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Jeff Samardzija wound up in the win column for the first time with the Chicago White Sox, helped by a couple of big swings Jose Abreu took against Corey Kluber.

Samardzija threw six shutout innings as the White Sox trounced the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and the Cleveland Indians 6-0 on Wednesday.

Samardzija (1-1) had been winless in his first three starts for the White Sox. The 30-year-old righty from nearby Merrillville, Indiana, allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three.

"You get new teammates and you want to make sure you prove your worth to them," said Samardzija, acquired in a trade with Oakland in December.

"They gave me an early run, early two runs. That's a big cushion to have and that allowed me to go out and pound the zone with what I thought was subpar stuff," he said.

Abreu homered for the second straight day. He hit a solo shot in the first inning and added a two-run double in the seventh to chase Kluber (0-2).

Kluber gave up a career-high 13 hits and six earned runs in his fourth start of the year. He struck out six, walked one and threw two wild pitches, and was pulled before he got an out in the seventh.

"I made some mistakes and I probably didn't do a good enough job pitching inside to keep them off balance when I did make those mistakes," Kluber said.

Samardzija gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases in the third, but got out of the jam when Brandon Moss filed to right to end the inning.

Samardzija left with the two-run lead after throwing 113 pitches.

"He labored a little bit," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "When he needed to make a pitch, he made a pitch. He has some tools to him. . It's nice to him to gut through and get to a point where we could get to the bullpen."

Adam Eaton doubled to open the third, reached third on Melky Cabrera's single and scored on Abreu's double-play grounder to make it 2-0.

Kluber gave up another run in the sixth when his wild pitch let Avisail Garcia score.

Chicago made it 4-0 in the seventh as Cabrera singled home Micah Johnson. Abreu's double to deep left scored Eaton and Cabrera.

"It's a hard way to pitch when we're throwing up zeroes as an offense," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "I think he probably feels like he has to be perfect and that's a hard way to pitch."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco, pulled after five innings Tuesday night because of general tightness in the cold weather, said he felt fine on Wednesday. "It was maybe the first three or four (pitches) every inning. He was just tight. It was kind of ambiguous," Francona said. "Maybe I overreacted. If that's the case, that's one thing I won't apologize for." ... IF/OF Zach Walters began his rehab assignment Wednesday at Triple-A Columbus. He played third base, going 1 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.

White Sox: RHP Jake Petricka made his first appearance since being activated from the 15-day disabled list (right forearm strain) on Monday. He worked a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit and one walk.

UP NEXT

Indians: Off Thursday, then send RHP Danny Salazar (1-0, 3.00 ERA) to open a three-game weekend series on Friday at Detroit. He'll have five days' rest since his 4-2 win in his April 18 season debut at Minnesota.

White Sox: LHP Chris Sale (2-0, 2.25 ERA) makes his third start of the season and second in Thursday's opening of a four-game series against the Royals. Sale is 7-8 with a 2.68 ERA in 13 starts against Kansas City.

WOEFUL WEATHER

Snowflakes were spotted at U.S. Cellular Field and temperatures hovered at 39 degrees with wind chills in the 20s prior to the start of Wednesday afternoon's series finale.

POWER PACKED

Abreu has five homers for the season and leads the majors with 14 home runs and 31 RBIs in the first inning since the start of last year.

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