White Sox held to Dye's two hits as Bedard shines

CHICAGO (AP) -- Erik Bedard slowed down one of the most potent batting orders in the majors, beating the Chicago White Sox with a fastball humming in the mid-90s, a sharp curve and a tantalizing changeup.

Bedard allowed two hits and a run in eight innings -- he's now given up just one run in his last 24 -- as the Baltimore Orioles made the most of three Chicago errors in the sixth inning and beat the White Sox 8-1 Monday night.

"It's four starts in a row he's been pretty lights out. I'd certainly say he's gotten better and better," Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts said of Bedard, who has won four straight.

"We all know what's there. Every single one of us and other teams know what he's capable of. It's just a matter of consistently doing it," Roberts added.

Miguel Tejada and Corey Patterson, in his return to Chicago after being traded from the Cubs in the offseason, homered for the Orioles.

The only run allowed by Bedard was Jermaine Dye's 21st homer in the second that snapped the left-hander's 17-inning scoreless streak. Bedard (9-6) walked one and struck out seven. Dye also had a single in the fourth.

"I was just throwing strikes with everything," Bedard said. "Get them off balance and I did that."

The White Sox were also off balance defensively.

"You got more errors than hits, you don't deserve to win," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Freddy Garcia (10-5), who had also won three straight coming into the game, gave up 10 hits in six innings and the Orioles pushed the action on the bases against the right-hander's deliberate delivery. Two of the six runs against him were unearned.

Coming off an emotional three-game series against the Cubs, the White Sox played flat and cringed in the fifth inning when second baseman Tadahito Iguchi sprained his left ankle and had to leave the game after a collision with right fielder Dye.

Ramon Hernandez led off the fifth with a double inside the third base line that Guillen questioned was fair. Kevin Millar then hit a shallow fly to right that Iguchi went back for, raising his hand to say it was his. He caught the ball just before Dye hit him in the back of the legs and knocked him down.

Iguchi is expected to miss a couple of games. X-rays were negative.

"It was not as bad as it looked," Guillen said.

"If both of us let up, the ball drops in. I think both of us were calling at the same time," Dye said. "Luckily we both came out pretty good."

Dye got kicked in the mouth and suffered a couple of cuts from Iguchi's cleats, but stayed in the game.

"The ball was right in the middle and it was both of our jobs to catch the ball," Iguchi said, adding he wasn't seriously injured. "In the end we caught the ball. I mean this happened, but we were able to get the job done."

Iguchi, who was replaced by Alex Cintron, was able to get off a throw to the infield as Hernandez took third. Nick Markakis tied the game with an RBI single to right and after a walk, Melvin Mora hit a broken-bat RBI single to make it 2-1.

Jeff Conine and Patterson singled in the sixth to put runners at the corners and as Patterson raced to steal second, Chicago catcher Chris Widger's throw hit Patterson and sailed into center field. Conine scored on the error and Patterson took third.

Millar then hit an RBI single to make it 4-1, taking third on a throwing error by shortstop Juan Uribe and scoring on Markakis' sacrifice fly.

After Roberts singled and stole second, he scored when third baseman Joe Crede missed Brandon Fahey's grounder for an error.

"They didn't play probably as well as they do 90 percent of the time. That's when you have to win, when the other team doesn't play as well they like," Roberts said. "We did a good job of capitalizing on it."

Game notes
Patterson returned to the lineup after missing one game with a sore right foot. He fouled a ball off his foot in Saturday's 7-4 win over Atlanta. Patterson was making his first appearance in Chicago since he was traded by the Cubs in January after hitting just .215 last season and being booed heavily at Wrigley Field. ... Orioles C Javy Lopez, who missed three games because of sore neck and back, entered the game in the bottom of the eighth after Hernandez was hit with a foul tip near his knee. ... It was the White Sox's fourth loss in their last 17 games. ... The White Sox's six All-Star selections are their most since sending seven in 1960.