NEW YORK, July 18 - Paul Konerko belted a pair of homers and Jon Garland tossed seven sharp innings as the Chicago White Sox continued their mastery of the Detroit Tigers with a 7-1 win at Comerica Park on Tuesday.

The Tigers may have the best record in the major leagues at 62-31 but the White Sox have Detroit's number, winning six-of-seven meetings this season and a perfect 4-0 at Detroit's home park.

The White Sox win was their first in four games since the all-star break and moved the World Series champions to within 3 1/2 games of the Central division front-runners from the Motor City.

"I don't think it's a psychological edge," Detroit manager Jim Leyland told MLB.com. "I think they've pitched better than we have and hit better than we have. Six times."

Joe Crede's second-inning RBI double gave the White Sox a lead they would never relinquish, Konerko sealing victory with his second homer and 23rd of the season with a three-run blast in the seventh inning.

That was more than enough support for Garland (9-3) who was superb, collecting his fifth straight decision after allowing just one run on six hits with five strike outs and a walk.

"At this level, I don't know if I believe in getting inside another team's head," Konerko said. "We used to play Minnesota and they were not in our head but there was a feeling that they had our number that year.

"We are not at that point yet (with Detroit)."

Placido Polanco singled for the Tigers' run in the fifth inning, trimming the deficit to 2-1 but Detroit would get no closer and went on to lose their second straight game after returning from the all-star break with three consecutive wins.

In Boston, rookie Jon Lester allowed one hit in eight innings and Alex Gonzalez drove in the game's only run as Red Sox blanked the Kansas City Royals 1-0.

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