Colon, White Sox turn back Indians
Cleveland lost for the seventh straight time, 5-2.
CHICAGO (AP) -- Bartolo Colon was struggling through a career-high four-game losing streak when White Sox manager Jerry Manuel told the right-hander not to forget about his fastball.
"I mentioned to him that if you don't use it, you'll lose it," Manuel said.
Colon listened, throwing mostly fastballs in overpowering the Cleveland Indians and leading Chicago to a 5-2 win Tuesday.
"I had 110 pitches and I believe 107 were fastballs," Colon said, only half in jest.
Colon (7-9) gave up two runs and six hits in 72/3 innings, struck out four and walked none.
Retired 17 straight
He retired 17 straight batters during one stretch, taking a shutout into the eighth.
"He came out and established that fastball and kept the heat on all day," Manuel said of Colon, who had been 0-4 in seven starts since beating the Dodgers on June 7. "This is the guy that we've been hoping to have all year long."
Colon actually threw 111 pitches before being removed. He has five complete games this year, and said he would have preferred to stay in.
"He was extended at that time. That's a lot of fastballs," Manuel said of his decision to lift his starter. "I knew if he put his foot on the pedal early he was going to run out of gas eventually."
Damaso Marte finished the six-hitter for his sixth save in 13 chances.
Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez hit consecutive first-inning homers and Carlos Lee also homered for the White Sox. Chicago (50-50) reached .500 for the first time since July 3 and has won five straight, its longest streak since taking seven straight last Aug. 27 to Sept. 3.
The White Sox closed within five games of first-place Kansas City in the AL Central.
"We knew we were due," Manuel said. "It's going to be important that we go out and do the same thing the next two days [in Toronto]."
Tribe's skid continues
Jason Davis (7-8) gave up five runs and seven hits in 51/3 innings. Cleveland has lost seven straight, its longest skid since dropping eight in a row from April 22-30.
"We have to go through these ups and downs to become a better ballclub and to become a stronger ballclub," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said.
The White Sox have 27 homers in their last nine home games. Thomas hit his 399th homer, a two-run drive into the back of the stands in left.
After Ordonez's homer, Davis retired 12 of his next 13 batters. Ordonez singled in the sixth, and Lee hit a two-run homer for a 5-0 lead.
"Early on, I set myself up for failure with some bad sequences," Davis said. "It could have been a different game if I didn't make those mistakes."
Colon gave up a leadoff double to Coco Crisp in the first, then retired 17 consecutive batters before Crisp doubled in the sixth.
Crisp hit an RBI double in the eighth, and Casey Blake followed with a sacrifice fly.
Marte then struck out Jody Gerut to end the threat.
Notes
Thomas hit his 91st first-inning homer Tuesday.
Cleveland's 41-59 record is its worst at the 100-game mark in 12 years.
The White Sox have opposite records on the road and at home. At U.S. Cellular Field they are 31-19, while away from home they're 19-31.