Belisario sees turnaround after rough outing

HOUSTON -- If not for one miserable outing in Colorado, Ronald Belisario's overall body of work for the White Sox might have a little bit more appreciation outside Chicago. He allowed five runs over one-third of an inning on April 9 before leaving with back stiffness, but entering Friday he had since given up a combined five runs (four earned) over 13 appearances.

Belisario had not yielded an earned run in his past 10 appearances entering Friday's series opener against the Astros, and he had retired 34 of his past 39 batters faced, including 14 straight from April 21-29. Opponents were hitting .106 (5-for-47) since April 20.

"He's been very, very good for us, and everybody has," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said. "It makes me think about not having them in Spring Training, all of them, them getting on track, that would include all of the guys that weren't there in the beginning as well as Scott Downs, who is getting on track more and more also."

In the category of ground-ball outs vs. those made in the air, Belisario leads the White Sox with a 2.50 ratio. That attribute will come in handy when U.S. Cellular Field plays smaller during the warmer summer months.

"All of our guys get ground balls, him the most, which is a great asset for guys coming in the game, with runners on certainly and also to keep the ball in the park," Cooper said. "I haven't seen a ground ball get out of the park yet.

"For our park, that profiles well. But there's many, many good hitting parks, so that profiles well anywhere."