CHICAGO — It may have taken close to six months, but Cleveland manager Manny Acta is finally getting a glimpse of what a young Indians’ roster may be capable of.
Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-run home run, Fausto Carmona pitched six strong innings and the Indians extended their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night.
The Indians are on their longest winning streak since they won 10 straight from Aug. 17-27, 2008.
“We want to finish strong. I’m not a big believer in finishing the season well and it carrying five months down the road. There’s too much time, especially when you have to go through spring training,” Acta said. “I believe more in carrying the momentum from spring training into the season because it’s closer when it comes to time. But it’s good. It’s been a long year, a lot of young and inexperienced kids are getting an opportunity to play here, getting the feel that they belong up here. Getting the feel for how we want them to play up here. Our pitching has been the key.”
Carmona (13-14) won his seventh straight start against the White Sox and has a 2.82 ERA during that stretch. He is 7-3 in his career against the White Sox. The right-hander allowed two runs and five hits while striking out seven with one walk.
Carmona is 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his last six starts overall and he feels he has a better repertoire of pitches than he did in 2007 when he was 19-8 with a 3.08 ERA.
“I feel very confident on the mound,” Carmona said. “I’m more happy (with 2010 season) than 2007. I throw more changeups and sliders. In 2007 it was all sinkers.”
He has not lost to Chicago since April 13, 2007.
“Carmona is always going to have good stuff as long as he is healthy. That’s one of the hardest guys to hit,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He’s got a great sinker ball. It’s not easy to go out there against him. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game.”

Brent Morel homered for the White Sox, who lost for the second time in nine games.

Tony Pena (5-3), who took over Gavin Floyd’s spot in the rotation, allowed six runs and nine hits. Floyd was shut down for the season after leaving his start with tightness in his right shoulder on Sept. 20 at Oakland.

Despite his struggles on Friday, Guillen appreciated the job Pena did out of the bullpen this season.

“I think Pena was one of the most underrated players we have. Nobody said much about him, but in the meanwhile, when he had to be there he did pretty good. Everytime we needed him he was available for us,” Guillen said.

Pena allowed consecutive doubles to Michael Brantley and Asdrubal Cabrera to start the game. Then Choo homered to right-center to give the Indians a 3-0 lead. It was Choo’s 22nd homer of the season. Since Sept. 1, Choo has 27 RBIS in 28 games and is hitting .340.

Mark Teahen doubled with two outs in the bottom of the first and scored on Dayan Viciedo’s single. Morel led off the second inning with a home run off the left-field foul pole. It was Morel’s third of the season.

With runners on first and second and one out in the third, Pena intentionally walked Travis Hafner to load the bases. During Jayson Nix’s at-bat, Pena threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. Nix drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Trevor Crowe followed with an RBI single to make it 6-2.

Crowe had an RBI single in the seventh inning.

Indians reliever Vinnie Pestano allowed a two-out RBI single to Alejandro De Aza in the ninth before striking out Brent Lillibridge with runners on first and second.

NOTES: White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks, who has not pitched since Sept. 2 with a sore right forearm, says he can pitch in the final two games if needed. … After hitting a grand slam Thursday night, White Sox 1B Paul Konerko had the night off.

Elyria Schools voted this morning at a special board meeting to sell Erie Elementary School to Education Alternatives for $612,000.

Education Alternatives already rents Edison Elementary School.

Erie Elementary is at 33 Naples Drive and was closed by the district at the end of the 2008-09 school year. It went up for auction earlier this month after the decision was made by the district to unload four closed schools from its real estate portfolio. Erie, Roosevelt, Edison and Eastgate schools all were offered for sale.

A Gates Mills couple who first tried to buy Erie at the public auction only to have board members unanimously reject the offer had sued the school district to stop the sale of the building to another buyer.

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland woman has pleaded guilty to murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, who police say was scalded in hot water after she soiled bed sheets.
Thirty-year-old Tyesha Hamilton entered the plea Wednesday and a judge immediately sentenced her to life in prison with parole possible after 15 years.
Hamilton’s daughter, Alexandria, was […]

CLEVELAND — The Indians finished their portion of the Progressive Field schedule in style Wednesday.

In a doubleheader that accounted for the final two home games of the season, Cleveland swept Central Division rival Detroit, shutting out the Tigers 4-0 in the opening game, before completing the sweep via a 4-3 victory in the nightcap.

The Indians have won six straight games to equal their season high in the department. “It was a great homestand, especially with the way we fin­ished it off today,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose club went 6-1 in the final homes­tand of the season. “I thought it was special for us and the fans. We wanted to finish that way. I think our fans deserved that, so they can wind up with a good taste in their mouth.”

More photos below.

The Indians won Game 1 behind the pitching of Mitch Talbot and the offense of Shin-Shoo Choo and Travis Hafner.

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Talbot tossed seven scoreless innings, while allowing five hits and striking out five without a walk. Hafner and Choo both hit two-run home runs, combining for five of their team’s nine hits. “Mitch set the tone for us,” Acta said. “He was just very good from the get-go. He was in com­mand the whole time. He gave us the opportunity to let our middle of the order produce.”

It was a positive finish to an otherwise disappointing second half for Talbot, who spent time on the disabled list and posted just two wins after June 27.

“To finish off the season like this on a good note is great,” said Talbot, who was a rookie of the year candidate after start­ing the season at 5-2. “That’s what you think about when you’re driving home or sitting on the couch after the season.”

Talbot finished the year with a 10-13 record and 4.41 ERA in 28 starts.

“A good start like that was good for him, since he struggled in the second half,” Acta said. “He won double digits in the big leagues in his first year as a starter. That’s not too shabby.”

Choo, Cleveland’s most productive hitter, has been steady all season, but Hafner has turned it on after a disappointing first half. He is batting .331 (49-for-148) in 42 games since the All-Star break.

“I feel like I’ve swung the bat better in the second half,” Hafner said. “I’m just trying to be more consistent. You want to finish the season strong and have something to build on in the offseason.”

The Indians beat one of the American League’s best starting pitchers, Justin Verlander, in the second game.

Trailing 3-1 after three innings, Cleveland closed to within a run on an RBI single from Jayson Nix in the fourth before scoring twice in the fifth to forge ahead for good.

The game-winning run scored on a squeeze bunt from Trevor Crowe that scored Michael Brantley. Crowe got the bunt down on a pitch that was outside and up at his head.

“We had a tough challenge in Verlander,” Acta said. “We had to do what we had to do to score and get ahead in the game. Crowe deserves a lot of credit. It was a tough, tough pitch to bunt. It’s probably the most exciting play in the game.”

Josh Tomlin started for the Indians against Verlander, allowing three runs on nine hits over five innings. The right-hander pitched at least five innings in each of his 12 starts this season, joining Steve Dunning as the only two Cleveland pitchers since 1920 to log five innings in each of their first 12 major league starts.

Cleveland’s victories evened the season series between the two teams at 9-9, both clubs going 8-1 at home.

Shelley Duncan stole second in the eighth inning of Game 2, accounting for the first stolen base of his career.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.