White Sox at Tigers
The Chicago White Sox are winners of six straight and are tearing the cover off the ball in the process while finally getting bigger contributions from the middle of their order. The White Sox will try to make it seven in a row and polish off their second straight sweep of an American League Central rival when they visit the Detroit Tigers in the finale of a three-game set on Friday.
Chicago cleanup hitter Jose Abreu was batting .183 without a home run before going 10-for-18 over his last five games, including his first two home runs of the campaign in Saturday's 6-4, 10-inning triumph. No. 3 hitter Melky Cabrera was enduring his own struggles hitting in front of Abreu and also entered Saturday's contest without a home run before belting a tie-breaking blast in the 10th. Cabrera and Abreu will try to keep the power coming on Sunday against Detroit right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, who had some trouble with the long ball in his last start. The Tigers have totaled eight runs during a four-game slide and will try to turn things around against White Sox right-hander Miguel Gonzalez.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, WGN (Chicago), FSN Detroit
PITCHING MATCHUP: White Sox RH Miguel Gonzalez (3-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. Tigers RH Jordan Zimmermann (2-1, 6.35)
Gonzalez dominated in his last two starts, allowing a total of one earned run in 16 1/3 innings against New York and Kansas City. He scattered two hits and walked one while striking out five in a win over the Royals on Monday and enjoyed plenty of support in the 12-1 triumph. Gonzalez has not been quite as sharp against Detroit in his career, going 2-4 with a 7.43 ERA in nine games - seven starts.
Zimmermann has not been nearly as strong as Gonzalez of late and allowed five runs in each of his last three outings while failing to record an out past the sixth inning in any of those turns. The Wisconsin native struggled to keep the ball in the yard while yielding three home runs against Seattle on Tuesday but received enough support to earn a win in the 19-9 final. Zimmermann, who spent the first seven years of his career with the Washington Nationals in the National League, posted a 7.53 ERA in three starts against Chicago last season.
WALK-OFFS
1. White Sox RHP James Shields (strained lat) threw Saturday for the first time since going on the disabled list April 18.
2. Detroit SS Jose Iglesias is 0-for-11 in three games since coming off the seven-day concussion DL.
3. Chicago RF Avisail Garcia hit safely in each of the last six games while recording seven RBIs and six runs scored.