Indians-White Sox: Pavano, Tribe Cruise to Shutout Win

The Cleveland Indians took Game 1 of a three-game set in Chicago Friday night by a score of 6-0.

The big story for Cleveland was starting pitcher Carl Pavano (6-4), who threw a complete game shutout, his first since 2005, giving up only three hits.

He struck out six White Sox, while allowing only two base-on-balls, lowering his ERA for the season to 4.62, as he is 6-1 in his previous eight starts.

However, there had to be a losing team.

Chicago's John Danks (4-4) went five and two-thirds, giving up six hits and five earned in the loss. Chicago's bullpen combined for three and a third, allowing one run.

A.J. Pierzynski was Chicago's lone bright spot, going 2-for-3 off of Pavano. The other hit came off the bat of lead-off hitter Scott Podsednik, going 1-for-4 on the night.

Mark DeRosa started the scoring for Cleveland in the third inning, driving a deep three-run shot into the left field stands at U.S. Cellular Field, making it 3-0.

Then, Travis Hafner made his return, in style, driving a liner into the right field seats making it 4-0. Ryan Garko followed with a solo shot of his own, adding to the Cleveland lead, now 5-0.

The last of Cleveland's scoring came in the top of the ninth when Josh Barfield grounded a single to left field, scoring Trevor Crowe.

Pavano's solid outing now has Cleveland some much-needed confidence heading into Game 2 of this series on Saturday afternoon, where Jeremy Sowers will throw for Cleveland against Gavin Floyd of Chicago.

Cleveland is now only six games back of Detroit, tied for fourth in the division with Kansas City.