Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Mark Buehrle pitched his second complete game of the season to earn his first career win in Oakland as the White Sox topped the A's, 5-1, to open a three-game series.
Buehrle (9-8) twirled a four-hitter, one a Jack Cust RBI double, and struck out two without issuing a walk. The veteran southpaw made it eight starts in a row allowing three runs or less and broke through for a win at the Coliseum in his 13th appearance and 11th career start there.
Buehrle bested an Oakland club that had won seven of its last eight games coming in and did so on the one-year anniversary of his perfect game against Tampa Bay.
Carlos Quentin and A.J. Pierzynski each had a pair of RBI in the win, Chicago's third in four games after dropping three straight. Alex Rios added two hits and an RBI.
Trevor Cahill (9-4) pitched seven innings in the start for Oakland, surrendering three runs (two earned) on only four hits and two walks. It was just his second loss in his last 13 starts, with the A's going 10-3 in that time.
The White Sox manufactured the game's first run in the fourth when Rios doubled leading off, moved up on a groundout and scored on a Quentin sacrifice fly.
Chicago added two runs in the sixth. Juan Pierre drew a leadoff walk before Omar Vizquel singled to leave runners at the corners. Cliff Pennington's error on a ground ball to short from Rios scored a run and Quentin plated another with groundout.
Meanwhile, Buehrle contended with only a double from Cust in the second and a Coco Crisp two-out single in the third before back-to-back doubles by Kevin Kouzmanoff and Cust in the seventh scored the A's lone run.
Oakland went in order again in the eighth and Pierzynski scored two with a single in the ninth before Buehrle returned to polish off his 26th career complete game with a 1-2-3 bottom half.
Buehrle previously was 0-6 at Oakland Coliseum and had lost his last four decisions versus the Athletics. His previous win over the club came on May 24, 2006, In 24 career games versus the A's, all but four of those starts, Buehrle is just 4-12...Cahill had won eight of his last nine decisions coming in and fell to 5-2 in eight home starts this season...These two clubs were meeting for the first time since the A's took five of the nine matchups a season ago...The White Sox remain an MLB-best 29-9 since June 9...It was Pennington's 14th error on the year.