Indians - White Sox : Jermaine Dye takes down the Tribe 7-2.

Paul Byrd looked great through five innings.  Michael Aubrey homered in the second, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead.  In the top of the sixth, the offense even added an insurance run on back-to-back doubles by Ben Francisco and Travis Hafner.

Then the machine that was Paul Byrd broke down, and Cleveland ended up losing 7-2.

Byrd only got one out in the fateful bottom of the sixth. Cabrera singled, and A.J. Pierzynski walked.  With runners on first and second and nobody out, Byrd got Quentin to ground into a fielders choice, erasing Pierzynski.

That’s when everything went bad.  Jermaine Dye hit a three-run home run on a 2-1 count, and the Indians were down 3-2. 

Being down one run was bad enough, but the inning didn’t stop there.  Jim Thome singled.  Joe Konerko singled.  Byrd was taken out of the game.  He was responsible for the runner, though.

Julio came on in relief.  Joe Crede greeted him with a double that scored Thome.  After an intentional walk to Nick Swisher, Alexei Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Byrd’s last runner, Konerko.  The guy who started the inning, Cabrera, hit into a fielder's choice ending the offensive outburst, and it was 5-2. 

Three runs were basically too much for a sad Cleveland offense to overcome. 

In the bottom of the seventh, the White Sox put the exclamation point on the end of the sentence, Dye hit his second home run of the evening, chasing Julio.  Breslow relieved and gave up a homer to Jim Thome to make it 7-2 White Sox. 

And that is the way it ended.

In the top of the ninth, the Indians did string together a couple singles, but unlike the Tribe teams of the Nineties, there was no tingling of anticipation they’d come back from five down. They didn’t.

Byrd took the loss.  In five and a third, he gave up five runs on five hits.  Julio gave up one run on two hits, but was also responsible for Byrd’s last two runs crossing the plate.  Breslow allowed one run in a third of an inning.  Betancourt pitched one inning, allowing one hit and no runs during his time on the mound.

The White Sox used four pitchers as well, but Javier Vasquez went seven strong, giving up four hits and two runs for the victory. 

The Indians have lost five in a row.  The White Sox have won their last seven.  The Indians are 8-12 on the road this year.

These two teams wrap up the three-game set Thursday night. The start time is 8:11 Eastern.  Aaron Laffey goes for the Tribe, while Mark Buehrle takes the hill for Chicago.