Buehrle baffles Pirates batters

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mark Buehrle scattered nine hits over eight innings, Josh Fields hit a two-run homer and the Chicago White Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Buehrle (4-3) struck out four and issued an intentional walk. He won his 101st career game and has won consecutive starts after not earning a win since April 23 — the start just after his no-hitter April 18.

John Van Benschoten was effective in his first major league start in almost three years and Adam LaRoche had three hits for the Pirates, who had won three of four.

Rob Mackowiak led off the seventh with a bunt single and Fields followed with his first homer of the season to make it 4-1.

Fields, who also doubled in a run in the second, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Mackowiak also drove in two runs. Tadahito Iguchi doubled in a run in the ninth to make it 6-1.

Ryan Doumit singled in LaRoche in the second for the Pirates.

Pirates starter

Van Benschoten, who started five games and appeared in another for the Pirates in 2004, allowed two runs and three hits and three walks in 51⁄3 innings. He had been 6-4 with a 2.73 ERA in 12 starts for Triple-A Indianapolis this season.

Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in the 2001 draft, Van Benschoten (0-1) had reconstructive surgery on both shoulders before the 2005 season and questioned if he would ever reach the majors again.

Buehrle struck out four and walked one. Ryan Bukvich finished up with a perfect ninth.

Notes

Van Benschoten went 1-3 with a 6.91 ERA in 2004. His previous major league start was Sept. 18, 2004, when he allowed six runs in one-third of an inning in an 8-7 loss to the New York Mets. ... All five of the Pirates starters in the rotation at the moment were drafted by the club. No other major league team has more than three homegrown starters. ... The crowd of 36,610 was the second sellout of the season and first since opening day.