CHICAGO --- Former Anteater Dylan Axelrod collected his first major-league win after pitching six shutout innings against Toronto Monday at U.S. Cellular Field. Axelrod's effort gave manager Ozzie Guillen a win in his final game at the helm of the Chicago White Sox.
Axelrod, who pitched for UC Irvine from 2006-07, limited Toronto to three hits while walking two and striking out six to earn his first win in three tries. Axelrod made starts against Detroit and Cleveland but came away with no-decisions on both occasions.
The right-hander set down three straight in the first but ran into trouble in the second after loading the bases with one out on a single, a hit batsman and a walk. However, Colby Rasmussen lined out to first baseman Tyler Flowers and Axelrod induced a fly-ball out to left-fielder Juan Pierre to leave the Blue Jays stranded. Axelrod then retired six consecutive batters prior to giving up a single and a double in the fifth and walking one in the sixth.
Axelrod would leave the game leading 3-0 on Flowers' three-run bomb in the bottom of the second. The White Sox bullpen came close to spoiling Axelrod's effort for the second time after giving up a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to cut Chicago's lead to 4-3 but Sergio Santos struck out Adam Lind to preserve the win.
Axelrod was called up earlier this month and made his major league debut Sept. 7 against the Minnesota Twins.
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