CHICAGO (AP) _ Cal Eldred pitched 6 1-3 innings for his third straight victory and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3 on Friday night after a long rain delay.

Eldred (5-2), a major offseason acquisition in the White Sox's quest to stay competitive with the Indians in the AL Central, allowed seven hits and three runs after the 2-hour, 35-minute delay before the start.

Keith Foulke pitched the final two innings for his eighth save in nine chances. He got Kenny Lofton to pop out with runners on first and third to end the game.

Eldred pitched out of a bases loaded predicament in the sixth by striking out Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, but was lifted in the seventh after giving up a two-run homer to Einar Diaz that brought the Indians within 5-3.

Frank Thomas hit a first-inning homer off Chuck Finley (3-4), who lost his fourth straight decision, and the White Sox added three more in the fifth in their first meeting with the Indians this season.

The White Sox lead Cleveland by 1 1/2 games in the AL Central. The Indians have won five straight division titles.

The three-run fifth started with back-to-back bunt singles by Jeff Abbott and Chris Singleton. Herbert Perry followed with an RBI single, Brook Fordyce had a run-scoring fielder's choice, a grounder that went off Finley before rolling to short, and Ray Durham tripled to make it 5-1.

Thomas hit his ninth homer, following Jose Valentin's double, to make it 2-0.

Thome hit his 14th homer in the second, two pitches after Sox third baseman Perry tripped over the bag, fell down and couldn't catch his high popup.

Finley allowed five runs and six hits in eight innings. ^Notes@: Eldred is 3-8 in his career against the Indians. Finley is 14-13 against the White Sox.. ... The game started nearly an hour after the National Anthem was sung. The grounds crew took the tarp off the infield, but after managers Jerry Manuel and Charlie Manuel went to talk to crew chief Jerry Crawford, it was put back on and the delay _ already an hour and 35 minutes at the time of the Anthem _ continued. ... The White Sox's defensive shift for Thome, with three infielders on the right side of the second base bag and third baseman Herbert Perry playing short, backfired in the second inning. Thome hit a high pop near third and after Perry ran across the infield to get in position, he tripped over the third base bag and fell down as the ball dropped. Two pitches later, Thome homered. ... Many of the announced crowd of 18,225 stayed around until the end. ... With Paul Konerko unable to go after fouling a pitch off his foot Thursday night, Thomas got his seventh start at first.