BALTIMORE (AP) – Jermaine Dye and Joe Crede had two RBIs apiece in a five-run first inning, Freddy Garcia earned his first win against Baltimore in three years and the Chicago White Sox breezed past the Orioles 9-4 Sunday night.

After building an 8-1 lead in the second inning, the White Sox had little difficulty dispatching the free-falling Orioles, who have lost 11 of 12 to dip two games under .500 (51-53) for the first time this season.

Juan Uribe had three hits and Dye drove in three runs to help Chicago improve the major league’s best record to 68-35.

Earlier Sunday, the White Sox acquired utility infielder Geoff Blum from the San Diego Padres for minor league pitcher Ryan Meaux. The switch-hitting Blum is expected to join the team Monday, when Chicago will seek to complete a four-game sweep.

Garcia (11-4) gave up three earned runs and 10 hits in seven innings. The right-hander is 9-1, on the road and 8-1 overall since losing at home to the Orioles on May 14.

Garcia was 3-6 lifetime against Baltimore and 0-4 in his last four starts against the Orioles since beating them with Seattle on May 24, 2002.

Brian Roberts and Eric Byrnes homered for Baltimore, which is 2-12 since July 15. The skid has dropped the Orioles into fourth place in the AL East, eight games behind division-leading Boston and seven in back of Oakland in the wild-card race.

Chicago took control in the first inning against Rodrigo Lopez (9-6), who gave up four hits, walked two and hit a batter while throwing 44 pitches. With the bases loaded and two outs, Dye hit a two-run single and Crede doubled in two runs before Uribe capped the uprising with an RBI single. Leadoff hitter Timo Perez made the first and final outs.

Baltimore scored an unearned run in the bottom half when Byrnes doubled and came home when Crede threw wildly on Miguel Tejada’s grounder to third.

The White Sox made it 8-1 in the second. Tadahito Iguchi drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double by Paul Konerko before Aaron Rowand and Dye hit RBI singles to chase Lopez, who left to a chorus of jeers.

Chicago added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Perez.

Sammy Sosa, who was booed by many in the crowd of 31,982 after striking out in his first two at-bats, singled in a run in the sixth.

Roberts and Byrnes hit successive homers in the seventh. It was Byrnes’ first home run with Baltimore since arriving Saturday after being traded from Colorado.

Notes: Orioles CF Luis Matos was a late scratch with a sore right thumb. … Iguchi left in the third inning after being hit by a pitch from Todd Williams. He bruised his left hip. … Chicago has outscored the opposition 87-43 in the first inning this season. … The White Sox improved to 5-2 against Baltimore, the sixth straight year they’ve won the season series.

AP-ES-07-31-05 2339EDT