White Sox now: ; rely on pitching

CINCINNATI - Instead of beating up on teams with their offense,the Chicago White Sox have started beating them with their pitching.Manager Jerry Manuel thinks that's a very good sign.

James Baldwin got by with off-speed pitches and the bullpen madehis solid start stand up Monday night for a 4-3 victory over theCincinnati Reds.

The White Sox maintained their 11/2-game lead over Cleveland inthe AL Central and improved the league's best record to 33-23, thesecond time this season they've been 10 games over .500.

"I think there's too much room and too much time left on theschedule to get comfortable and content," Manuel said. "It's tooearly."

It's not too early for Manuel to think his team is turning intoone that can hold its own even when its offense leaves the pitcherson their own.

Winning came easy for the White Sox as they racked up a MajorLeague record 181 runs in April. With summer approaching, they'rewinning the close ones as well.

"You would hope it's a sign that they've learned how to win closeballgames," Manuel said. "It's easy to get an offensive outburst andcoast. In the last few weeks, all of our games have been relativelyclose and guys are finding ways to win. Hopefully they've come ofage."

Baldwin (9-1) usually doesn't need a lot of runs to win,especially on the road. The right-hander is 7-0 on the road with a1.73 ERA; only Boston's Pedro Martinez (0.51) has been better.

Baldwin was chosen AL Pitcher of the Month for May and hasstarted off the new month with another win. His 9-1 start is thebest by a White Sox pitcher since his identical mark in 1996.

"If it wasn't for my teammates, I wouldn't be in that position,"Baldwin said. "They've been playing great defense behind me andgetting timely hits."

They got just enough Monday. Ray Durham opened the game with atriple and scored on Jose Valentin's groundout. Valentin added asolo homer in the sixth off Steve Parris (2-8), who gave up onlythree hits in six innings.

Things have been going that way lately for Parris, who hasn't wonsince May 9 and has gotten the lowest run support on the staff - 43runs in 12 games.

"I don't know what I did to the baseball gods, but they'regetting me back. I apologize," said Parris, who won a career-high 11games last season and now has lost a career-high eight. "I thought Ipitched pretty well the last couple of outings. Things just aren'thappening. That's the way it goes."

Greg Norton's solo homer off Scott Sullivan made it 3-0 in theseventh before the Reds finally scored. Baldwin left with one outand two aboard, and Dmitri Young had an RBI double off Kelly Wunschand Benito Santiago drove in another run with a groundout off BobbyHowry.

Keith Foulke pitched the last two innings, giving up a solo homerin the ninth to Sean Casey, as he converted his 12th consecutivesave chance.

The White Sox got their final run in the ninth when Paul Konerkohad a pinch RBI single off Dennys Reyes. The grounder up the middlewent off the glove of shortstop Barry Larkin, who was trying tostart a double play.

"I was thinking as I was running to first, 'What are the oddsLarkin doesn't come up with it? Maybe 1-in-25?' I was definitelythankful," Konerko said. "That's usually a routine play for him."

Notes: Frank Thomas, who sat out Sunday after playing the first54 games, was back in the lineup at first. He went 0-for-2 with apair of walks, extending his slump to 2-for-21. ... Konerko andReyes came to the Reds together from Los Angeles in the 1998 tradefor closer Jeff Shaw, and Konerko was traded to the White Sox laterthat year. ... Durham led off the first interleague game at CinergyField in 1997 with a homer. This time, he tripled. ... Red RHPOsvaldo Fernandez will miss his next scheduled start in Clevelandbecause of a sore elbow, jammed when he hit a line drive Sunday. ...Ken Griffey Jr. was 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts, leaving hisaverage at .216. ... Dante Bichette singled in the eighth, extendinghis hitting streak to nine games.