CHICAGO - C.C. Sabathia allowed one run in eight impressive innings, and Ronnie Belliard and Casey Blake homered in the first inning of the Cleveland Indians' 5-1 victory over the White Sox on Monday night.
Victor Martinez had a career-high four hits for the Indians, who moved within two games of Chicago Sox for second place in the Central.
Sabathia scattered four hits and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced, including the last seven. He struck out four and walked one and improved his ERA from 2.95 to 2.80, second in the league to Oakland's Tim Hudson (2.78).
Matt Miller pitched a perfect ninth to complete the four-hitter.
Aaron Rowand homered off the leftfield foul pole on a 1-and-2 pitch from Sabathia in the fourth for the White Sox, who have lost five of their past six. Rowand had three hits against Sabathia and finished 3-for-4. It was Rowand's fifth straight multihit game.
The Indians got off to a quick start against Scott Schoeneweis.
Belliard led off the game with a homer to left on a 3-and-1 pitch from Schoeneweis for his sixth career leadoff home run. Two outs later, Martinez singled and Blake followed with a two-run homer, his 11th, to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, Sabathia and plate umpire Tim Timmons exchanged words after the big left-hander didn't get a called strike during Jose Valentin's at-bat. Indians manager Eric Wedge quickly came out of the dugout to separate Sabathia from Timmons. There were no further incidents.
With the Indians leading 3-1 with one out in the fifth, Coco Crisp grounded into a fielder's choice and second baseman Juan Uribe had a chance to turn it into an inning-ending double play, but Uribe made a bad throw to first and Crisp was safe.
Matt Lawton followed with a single that got past first baseman Paul Konerko's glove, and Martinez drove in Crisp with a single.
Martinez led off the eighth with a double to right off White Sox reliever Mike Jackson and scored on Lou Merloni's sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
Schoeneweis gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked two.
Joe Crede doubled in the fourth for the only other hit for the White Sox.
The White Sox have homered in 16 straight home games.
