Chicago’s Hot, So Is Baldwin in Beating A’s

It was a sticky, sunny, steamy Sunday at Comiskey Park.

James Baldwin weather.

So he rained all over the Oakland Athletics, giving up only five hits in eight innings of a 13-0 Chicago White Sox victory.

“I always love hot weather, but today was a really good sweat,” said Baldwin (13-4), who matched his personal best for wins, set in 1998, and ran his lifetime record against the A’s to 5-1.

“That was the best I’ve ever seen him throw,” Oakland Manager Art Howe said. “He had his ‘A’ game today.”

The A’s had their “D” game, even with Tim Hudson (12-4) pitching in what was forecast to be a low-scoring affair. Instead Hudson, who had won his previous two starts and had only one loss in 12 decisions coming in, gave up eight runs--seven earned--and seven hits in only 2 2/3 innings. It was his shortest outing since going 2 1/3 innings April 20 at Cleveland.

“There was no one batter. Just the whole game,” Hudson said. “It’s frustrating, especially when I didn’t really give up a hard-hit ball all day.”

Herbert Perry hit a three-run homer and had an RBI single. Carlos Lee drove in three runs and Paul Konerko and Jeff Abbott drove in two apiece for the White Sox.

Perry’s shot in the eighth inning came on the first pitch he saw from T.J. Mathews.

Though it was only their sixth victory in 14 games, it was the second in a row for the White Sox and preserved their nine-game lead over second-place Cleveland in the AL Central.

“Somebody asked yesterday if this team had the killer instinct the Cleveland clubs had in previous years,” said Perry, a former Indian. “That really got under my skin. I don’t think those teams had a better record at any point than we have now.

“We knew there would be rough stretches. The season is 162 games long.”

Not even Baldwin, the staff ace, was immune to the post-all-star slump, winning only once since the break. But when he took the mound against the A’s, he looked like the pitcher that started the season with seven consecutive victories.

He struck out seven and gave up only two hits in the first three innings. He was so dominant he was still throwing in the mid-90s in the eighth inning. Of the 127 pitches he threw, 83 were for strikes.

“J.B. was outstanding, superb,” White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel said. “Hopefully it will set the tone for the rest of the pitching staff. He pretty much dominated a very good hitting team.”

Baldwin left the field to a standing ovation, and Mark Buehrle finished with a hitless ninth.