CHICAGO – Mark Buehrle was in rare form as the Chicago White Sox made an unusual start to the season by playing at home.

Buehrle retired his first 12 batters and allowed two hits in eight innings, leading Chicago over the Cleveland Indians 1-0 Monday.

In the first White Sox opener at home since 1990, their last season at the old Comiskey Park, Chicago got the only run in the seventh, overcoming a four-hitter by Jake Westbrook in the major leagues’ first complete game of the season.

Paul Konerko doubled down the left-field line, moved to third on Jermaine Dye’s fly to right and scored on an error by shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who booted Aaron Rowand’s one-out grounder. Peralta was the first player other than Omar Vizquel to start for the Indians at shortstop since 1993.

Shingo Takatsu pitched a perfect ninth for the save, completing a game that took just 1 hour, 51 minutes. In the last White Sox opener at home, they beat Milwaukee 2-1.

Aaron Boone played his first game since the 2003 World Series with the New York Yankees. The third baseman, who missed last season due to a pair of knee operations following an injury during a pickup basketball game, was 0-for-3 but made several nice defensive plays.

Buehrle hurt his foot shagging flies on March 20 and had to skip a spring training start before making a quick recovery. He has started four straight openers for the White Sox.

The AL leader in innings pitched last season, he didn’t allow a runner until Victor Martinez led off the fifth with a single to center on a 3-2 pitch, the ball shooting through Buehrle’s legs. Martinez was then erased in a double play.

Buehrle allowed only two other runners: Coco Crisp singled in the seventh and Travis Hafner walked before the White Sox turned another double play.

Last July at Jacobs Field, Buehrle retired his first 19 batters before giving up a single to Vizquel, but he still ended up facing the minimum 27 batters in the two-hit shutout.

Westbrook was just as tough, allowing only two hits in the first six innings, singles to Dye in the second and Konerko in the fourth.

Notes: Cleveland is expected to announce a long-term contract for catcher Victor Martinez at a news conference Tuesday. Martinez batted .283 with 23 homers and 108 RBIs last season and made the AL All-Star team. … Attendance on a sunny 64-degree day was announced at 38,141.

AP-ES-04-04-05 1724EDT