Beckett's rough first inning dooms Red Sox

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CHICAGO -- What few mistakes Josh Beckett made in the Red Sox road trip finale, he managed to make them early.

But those mistakes loomed large later, thanks to his counterpart, Gavin Floyd.

Beckett allowed a run-scoring single to Alex Rios and a two-run homer to Adam Dunn in the first inning, handing the Chicago White Sox a quick 3-0 lead that would stand up for a 4-1 White Sox victory.

"That's a pretty tough hole to put your team in," said Beckett, 2-3, "especially with a guy (Floyd) who I know has pitched well against us in the past."

The pitch to Dunn, guessed Beckett, was "assuming the way he hit, probably right down the (expletive) middle. The two-run homer was the difference between that and the rest of the game. You can give them one, in that situation. Leadoff guy (Alejando De Aza) gets a hit, they bunt him over and they want to manufacture a run in the first inning.

"As a pitcher, you have to minimize the damage and give them the one run and move on."

After the first, Beckett was masterful, allowing just two baserunners from the second through the sixth.

In the seventh, he seemed to tire some, allowing a two-out single to Eduardo Escobar, the No. 9 hitter, before finishing with two straight walks and giving way to Scott Atchison.

"Josh was good with all of his pitches," said Bobby Valentine. "His stuff might have been a little flat in (the first inning). The rest of the game, right up until the last pitch he threw, it looked like he had good movement, location, his curve ball was good.

"It was one of those days where we didn't score for him."

Beckett left with two out in the seventh, having tied a career-high with 126 pitches, his most in a start since 2004.

"I wasn't really paying too much attention to it," he said of the workload. "I was just trying to get that last out (which resulted in a 12-pitch walk to Brent Lillibridge)."

It helps that Beckett, like Jon Lester (124 pitches Saturday night) will get an extra day of rest before the next turn, thanks to a scheduled off-day Thursday.

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