Richards leads Sox to another Bucs blanking

CHICAGO (AP) — Clayton Richard struck out a career-high eight over six innings, Alexei Ramirez homered in his second straight game and the Chicago White Sox shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates again, 4-0 on Saturday.

Richard (1-0) allowed four hits for his first victory since last August, and the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games. They haven’t allowed a run since that franchise-record-tying 20-1 loss to Minnesota on Thursday.

While manager Ozzie Guillen tended to his ailing father-in-law in Venezuela, the White Sox turned in a performance he would have liked.

Paul Konerko singled in a run in the fourth, Ramirez made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the fifth, and Jermaine Dye added a solo drive in the eighth.

Now, the White Sox are looking pretty good.

In addition to getting blown out Thursday, they got blown off by Jake Peavy, who blocked a deal from San Diego. But since then? Gavin Floyd and Bobby Jenks combined on a two-hitter in Friday’s 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.

And on Saturday, they got another dominant start while handing the Pirates their third straight loss after winning five in a row.

They wasted a dominant performance by Duke on Friday and a solid effort by Ross Ohlendorf (5-4), who allowed four runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings but made two notable mistakes — to Dye and Ramirez.

Dye hit his 11th homer with two out in the eighth after scoring the game’s first run, and Ohlendorf left after walking Jim Thome.

The big blow, however, came from Ramirez in the fifth.

With a 1-0 lead, he drove a fastball to the seats beyond the left-field bullpen for his third homer. The runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year last season, Ramirez had gone 72 at-bats without one before he connected Friday and the three-run lead was plenty given how Richard was pitching.

The 25-year-old left-hander reportedly would have gone to San Diego in the Peavy deal. Instead, he shut down the Pirates, and the result was his first victory since he beat Seattle and Baltimore in back-to-back starts last Aug. 19 and 25.

The White Sox expect big things from Richard, who replaced the struggling Jose Contreras in the rotation earlier this month.

He allowed two runs over a career-high seven innings in his previous start against Toronto, and the Pirates never got a runner past second for the second straight night.

They had two runners on in the second and sixth, but Richard stranded them. Andy LaRoche also drove a long fly to left leading off the fifth that Carlos Quentin caught as he crashed into the wall. Quentin, who has been bothered by a sore left heel, left after grounding out to end the sixth.

The White Sox got an unearned run in the fourth when shortstop Jack Wilson overthrew first after fielding Dye’s hard one-hopper leading off the inning, allowing him to reach second. He came around when Konerko singled off second baseman Freddy Sanchez’s glove, making it 1-0.

Notes

White Sox bench coach Joey Cora filled in for Guillen, who is expected to return Sunday afternoon but not manage. “He was very, very, very serious,” Cora said. “He had a tough time [Friday] dealing with it — and obviously his wife and family.” ... Richard struck out seven against Texas last July 23. ... Quentin made his first start in eight days in left field, after starting at DH on Friday and getting two at-bats there the previous day. He missed five games because of a sore left heel. ... Chicago had back-to-back shutouts Aug. 12 and 13 at Kansas City