Free agent left-handers Donnie Veal and Jose Quintana have agreed to contracts with the Chicago White Sox.

The 27-year-old Veal made 19 appearances for Pittsburgh in 2009, going 1-0 with a 7.16 ERA. He spent last season in the Pirates’ system after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2010.

Quintana spent last season with the New York Yankees’ Class A Tampa team. The 22-year-old was 10-2 with a 2.91 ERA in 30 appearances (14 starts).

The moves announced Thursday bring Chicago’s 40-man roster to 34.

Ten days after being named the Chicago White Sox’s third base coach, Joe McEwing interviewed Thursday for the vacant St. Louis managerial position.

A major league scouting source confirmed that McEwing interviewed with the Cardinals, as he wasn’t present for his current duties as manager of the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Triple-A Memphis manager Chris Maloney also interviewed, and that Cardinals officials will meet with two more candidates on Friday and two next week.

BALTIMORE (AP) – Mark Buehrle pitched eight innings to earn his 10th win, Alexei Ramirez homered in a four-run first inning, and the Chicago White Sox cruised past the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 Thursday night.

Juan Pierre had three hits and two RBIs for the White Sox, who scored four runs before making an out. Chicago took three of four from the Orioles to complete a 6-1 road trip.

Buehrle (10-5) gave up three runs and six hits, struck out six and walked none. The left-hander has allowed three runs or fewer in 18 straight starts, matching the club record set by Frank Smith in 1909, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Buehrle’s run of 11 straight seasons with at least 10 wins is a franchise record.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

BALTIMORE, Aug. 11 (UPI) — Alexi Ramirez hit a two-run homer during a four-run first inning Thursday that sent the Chicago White Sox on their way to a 6-3 win over Baltimore.

The Orioles failed in their bid to produce back-to-back victories for the first time since mid-July.

After winning two straight games over Cleveland July 16-17, the Orioles have gone 7-16 and their loss Thursday was their 70th of the season — most in the American League.

Ramirez hit his 12th homer of the year to open the scoring and Chicago got runs later in the first inning on RBI doubles from Carlos Quentin and A.J. Pierzynski.

A two-RBI single by Juan Pierre in the third boosted Chicago’s lead to 6-0 and the White Sox survived a three-run Baltimore third that featured a two-run blast from Nick Markakis.

Mark Buehrle (10-5) went eight innings to get the victory. He gave up the three runs on the third and six hits while striking out six.

Chris Tillman (3-5) surrendered six runs on eight hits in just 2 2/3 innings to take the loss.

CHICAGO — No one is more surprised by the funk they’ve fallen into than the Chicago White Sox.

They’ve been waiting for nearly a month now to somehow shake it, put it behind them and look the like the team that was supposed to contend for a championship.

Instead, the bullpen has faltered with six blown saves and the defense has been shaky. But what really has this team with a $126 million payroll in last place and 10 1/2 games out of first place is an offense that has been inexplicably inept.

It’s gotten so bad that the White Sox were no-hit for the first time in 20 years — by struggling Twins’ lefty Francisco Liriano, who entered the game with a 9.13 ERA and a 1-4 record.

Manager Ozzie Guillen, who has made his own headlines by being suspended, isn’t sure what to do to get his team going. He has tried talking to his players and leaving them alone. He has shifted players around in the batting order, he has tried to be more aggressive with manufacturing runs and he has apparently turned the closer’s role over to Sergio Santos.

And he’s still left scratching his head.

“We tried everything, man,” he said.

And now the woeful White Sox go on a nine-game West Coast road swing, having lost 17 of their last 21 to fall into the cellar of the AL Central. It’s their second extended road trip of the young season.

They started 7-4 and scored 15 runs in the season opener against Cleveland, which has raced to the top of the division.

What really blew the White Sox off track early on was squandering three ninth-inning leads in a span of five days in April. They haven’t played well since those meltdowns, two of which included dropped fly balls by left fielder Juan Pierre.

YANKEES — Derek Jeter was out of the starting lineup for the New York Yankees on Thursday, a day after leaving a game against Detroit with a right hip problem.

Jeter said he felt fine, but manager Joe Girardi wanted to give him and Alex Rodriguez a chance to rest by keeping them both out of the starting lineup.

Rodriguez later entered the game as a pinch runner when Eric Chavez came up injured.

Jeter left during the eighth inning Wednesday night. He said afterward it was nothing serious, but Girardi described him as day-to-day.

Girardi indicated there’s no reason Jeter shouldn’t be able to play Friday night at Texas.

DODGERS — Major League Baseball wants more complete access to documents on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ finances, a person familiar with the sport’s investigation of the team told The Associated Press.

Former Texas Rangers president Tom Schieffer was appointed last month by Commissioner Bud Selig to monitor the team’s finances, and he met with Selig and MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred on Thursday in Milwaukee. The three decided to press ahead with MLB’s probe of Dodgers finances dating to Frank McCourt’s purchase of the club in 2004, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no public statements were authorized.

The Dodgers said Wednesday that documents requested by MLB had been made available in a “virtual data room” at Dodger Stadium. But baseball officials determined that was insufficient, the person said, because MLB will not be able to remove CD-ROMS for financial analysis and might not be able to print documents without the Dodgers having a record of what MLB is examining.

The Dodgers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

ASTROS — Closer Brandon Lyon returned to Houston on Thursday to have a test on his weakened pitching shoulder.

Lyon failed to retire any of the five batters he faced during a 3-2 loss to the Reds on Wednesday afternoon, struggling with his control and a subpar fastball. He came into the game trying to finish off a one-hitter, but gave up a walk, four hits and three runs.

He worked out and got treatment after the game, avoiding interviews.

Lyon flew back to Houston while the Astros completed a series against the Reds, then headed to Pittsburgh.

The Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are pretty much polar opposites offensively right now. So when the two teams square off at U.S. Cellular Field, the Rays will be faced with a tough task of getting their first win.

James Shields takes the mound opposite White Sox starter John Danks hoping to help visiting Tampa Bay to its first victory as the teams continue their four-game series Friday night.

The Rays (0-6), who finished third in the majors with 802 runs scored last season, fell 5-1 to Chicago on Thursday and have totaled just eight during their season-opening six-game slide.

“It’s absurd to think you can go into some slumps and not hit the ball like this,” said manager Joe Maddon, whose team was held to one run for the fifth time. “One run all the time is just hard to cope with. There’s not a whole lot we can do to be creative.”

Losing three-time All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria to the disabled list on Saturday with a muscle strain certainly hasn’t helped the Rays, who are batting .145.

“Of course, we never expected to start this way. We’ve had success and we anticipate success this season,” Maddon said. “What happens in the beginning of the year is more magnified than if it occurs in the middle when you’ve built up a little cache of wins.”

In contrast, the White Sox (4-2) lead the AL with 45 runs scored and are hitting .320 after collecting 12 hits Thursday.

“Right now we’re hitting in the clutch and that’s very important,” said manager Ozzie Guillen. “We’re mixing in one run here and there. …I think every day it’s not the same guy every time. Different guys are doing the damage.”

Juan Pierre improved his average to .357 with three hits, Alex Rios had two doubles and two RBIs and Paul Konerko had at least one RBI for the sixth straight game.

Carlos Quentin entered Thursday batting .500 over a five-game hitting streak but went 0 for 2.

Quentin is 3 for 17 lifetime against Shields (0-1, 2.45 ERA), who allowed four hits and two runs and struck out seven over 7 1-3 innings of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Baltimore.

“Sometimes you can look good and you don’t come out with the win,” said Shields, who is 2-2 with a 5.05 ERA in seven starts against the White Sox.

The right-hander, though, has enjoyed some success of late at U.S. Cellular Field, where he has gone 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA in his last two starts.

Danks (0-1, 3.00), too, suffered the loss in his season debut despite allowing six hits and two runs and recording eight strikeouts in six innings of Sunday’s 7-1 defeat at Cleveland.

Danks had compiled a 2.35 ERA en route to winning five of six starts against the Rays before surrendering eight hits and a career worst-tying eight runs in four innings of an 8-5 loss May 29.

Rays outfielder B.J. Upton went 2 for 4 on Thursday and has recorded a hit in all six games. Upton, though, is 2 for 14 with six strikeouts lifetime against Danks.

Johnny Damon, Ben Zobrist and Dan Johnson, who hit 2-3-4 in Tampa Bay’s lineup Thursday, have combined for just one hit in 16 at-bats versus the left-hander.

Manny Ramirez, who spent part of last season with Chicago, missed Thursday’s game because of a family matter, but is expected to be available for this one. Ramirez is 1 for 17 in 2011.

Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. STATS LLC and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.