(Best E Casino) - A couple of matchups against the
Pittsburgh Pirates was all the
Chicago White Sox needed to get their struggling offense untracked.
The current American League Central leaders aim to maintain their newfound success at the plate as Chicago goes for a sweep of this three-game interleague series today at U.S. Cellular Field.
After mustering a mere 10 runs over a five-game stretch in which they lost four times, the White Sox erupted for 19 hits and four home runs in a 16-5 rout of the Pirates in Tuesday's opener. Chicago continued to swing hot bats last night, as three more Sox players homered to power the club to an 8-2 victory.
Toby Hall had a two-run homer and both Carlos Quentin and Brian Anderson connected on solo shots for Chicago, which also received a two-RBI double from Nick Swisher.
That was more than enough support for Mark Buehrle (4-6). The White Sox left- hander cruised through eight innings and yielded just two runs on four hits and a pair of walks.
Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny (5-6) served up all three long balls and was touched for four runs over six innings to suffer the loss.
Jose Bautista homered for the third time in four games for Pittsburgh, which has lost four of its last five contests.
The Pirates played Wednesday's tilt without regular catcher Ryan Doumit, who suffered a slight concussion on Tuesday after being jarred in the mask by a foul ball and is expected to sit out today's game. The switch-hitting backstop is batting .341 with nine homers in just 138 at-bats.
Wednesday's win was the White Sox' 11th in their last 13 games at U.S. Cellular Field and upped the team's season home record to 23-11. Following today's clash, Chicago will play six straight games on the road beginning with a weekend set with the rival Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The home park has also been good to Gavin Floyd, Chicago's scheduled starter for this afternoon's finale. The much-improved righty is 4-1 with a 2.82 earned run average in seven U.S. Cellular Field starts this year, and opponents are hitting just .150 against him at home.
Floyd's most recent home start wasn't one of his best, however. He allowed four solo home runs over 6 1/3 innings to Colorado this past Friday and received a no-decision in a 5-4 Chicago win. The former first-round pick had won three consecutive outings prior to that game.
The 25-year-old won his only previous start against the Pirates. That came in Pittsburgh while a member of the Philadelphia Phillies on April 30, 2006, with Floyd holding the Bucs to one run and six hits through 6 2/3 innings.
Rookie Phil Dumatrait gets the starting nod today for Pittsburgh and seeks an improvement over a shaky last time out.
Against Baltimore on Friday, Dumatrait walked five batters in five innings and was reached for five runs, although he did not factor in the decision of his team's 9-6 loss. Prior to that appearance, the left-hander had allowed two runs or less in four consecutive starts and posted a 2-1 record over that span.
The 26-year-old will be opposing the White Sox for the first time and is 1-1 with a 4.54 ERA in 10 games (5 starts) on the road this year.
Pittsburgh won two of three games versus Chicago at PNC Park last season, but the White Sox are 11-5 in this series since 1998. The White Sox are also an impressive 110-91 all-time against the National League.
The Pirates are 58-98 in their games played versus the Junior Circuit.
