By STEPHEN HAWKINS

The Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jose Contreras won his 15th straight decision, striking out a career-high 11 and pitching the Chicago White Sox to an 8-3 victory against the Texas Rangers on Monday night.

Contreras (7-0), who hasn’t lost in the regular season since last Aug. 15, didn’t walk a batter and threw 75 of his 108 pitches for strikes through eight innings. He allowed three runs and six hits. The right-hander’s previous career high of 10 strikeouts came with the New York Yankees against the Mets on June 27, 2004.

The AL West-leading Rangers got all their runs in a four-batter span in the fifth.

Texas had only an infield single before its scoring spurt, and Contreras retired 10 of his last 12 batters after that.

Contreras’ winning streak is the longest in the majors since Minnesota lefty Johan Santana won 17 consecutive decisions from July 2004 to April 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Contreras won his final eight starts last season, and has made 11 starts this year.

While the Rangers struggled against Contreras, Chicago started the game with five straight hits off rookie left-hander John Koronka (4-4) for a quick 3-0 lead.

The White Sox had seven hits their first time through the order. Juan Uribe and Brian Anderson, the last two hitters and both batting under .200, started the second with consecutive hits before scoring to make it 5-0.

A.J. Pierzynski drove in the next two White Sox runs. He grounded out in the fifth as the last batter to face Koronka, and Pierzynski hit his third homer leading off the eighth. Scott Podsednik added an RBI single in the inning.

Contreras retired his first 10 batters, with five strikeouts, before Michael Young’s infield single with one out in the fourth. The Rangers finally scored an inning later.

Third baseman Joe Crede made a diving backhanded stop on Young’s short-hopper. He scrambled to his feet and made a strong throw, but Young beat it by a step for the first Texas hit.

Brad Wilkerson had a one-out bunt single in the fifth. Then the bottom third of the order – which had struck out consecutively in the third – produced the runs. Ian Kinsler doubled, Jason Botts hit a sacrifice fly and Rod Barajas a two-run homer, his fifth of the season.

Koronka, acquired in a trade from the Chicago Cubs the weekend before the regular season started, is 0-3 with a 7.18 ERA in his last six starts. He was 4-0 in his six previous starts.

Things might have been worse for Koronka if not for double plays in each of the first three innings. He gave up six runs and nine hits, with three walks and a hit batsman, over 4 2-3 innings.

Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye had consecutive RBI singles in the first.

Podsednik had a sacrifice fly in the second before an RBI single by Ozuna, who was doubled off on Thome’s liner to shortstop Young.

Konerko was hit by a pitch to start the third, a ball that skimmed the batter but hit plate umpire Chuck Meriwether squarely on his left knee – the umpire walked it off and continued after being checked on by his fellow umpires and the Rangers’ trainer. After Dye struck out, Pierzynski grounded into a double play.