Cleveland ? The Chicago White Sox can’t figure out why they are playing so badly. They had better find out quickly.

Milton Bradley hit a two-run double, and Brian Anderson earned his first win in eight starts for the Cleveland Indians, who defeated Chicago, 5-2, to complete a three-game sweep Monday.

The White Sox dropped to 2-5 with six games to play on their longest trip in 19 years.

“More than anything, this is discouraging,” White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. “We’re reaching and searching for all the positives we can find. We’ve got to keep pushing.”

White Sox management has maintained that Manuel’s job is safe, but there has been speculation the sixth-year skipper might be released during the remainder of the four-city, 14-day trip.

“This whole thing is tough to figure out,” said Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko, who went 0-for-3 and has one hit in 27 at-bats (.037) over his last nine games. “If we get down and negative, that is not going to work. We have to stay together.”

The rebuilding Indians pulled within 21¼2 games of third-place Chicago in the AL Central after starting 7-20. Cleveland came from behind to win each game of the rain-shortened series to extend its season-high winning streak to five. It was the Indians’ fourth series win in their last five, going 11-5 over the stretch.

“This is more indicative of how we want to play,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

Cleveland's Omar Vizquel slides past White Sox catcher Miguel Olivo with the go-ahead run on a double by Milton Bradley in the sixth inning. The Indians beat Chicago, 5-2, Monday in Cleveland.

Bradley put Cleveland ahead 3-2 by lining a two-run double high off the left-field wall against Bartolo Colon (5-5) in the sixth inning.

“I could feel myself over-swinging against him earlier,” Bradley said. “So I just went with the pitch, and the ball jumped off my bat.”

Anderson (3-5) allowed two runs and five hits over six innings and won for the first time since April 9. His last outing was two innings of hitless relief in a 5-2 win in Detroit on Tuesday.

“It’s been awhile, so it feels good to get that off my back,” Anderson said.

In his previous start, a 12-3 loss at Boston on May 24, the left-hander allowed eight hits and eight runs — just three earned — in five innings.