Chicago @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( May 27, 2010 ) Chi. White Sox 1, Tampa Bay 5
The Chicago White Sox are the only team that can boast of beating David Price.
Price gets a chance to atone for his lone loss of the season today when the Tampa Bay Rays continue a four-game series with the White Sox.
Price (7-1, 2.41) is living a charmed life right now. He is seeking his fourth straight win and, at the same time, trying to bounce back from his worst outing of the season.
The 6-6 left-hander earned his American League-leading seventh win Sunday despite allowing a season highs in runs (5) and home runs (2) in five innings of a 10-6 victory over Houston.
Price had allowed just two runs in his previous 20 innings. He leads the American League in wins and is third in the AL in ERA.
But as good as he’s been, there is one start he would like to have back.
The White Sox caught Price early in the season - his third start to be exact - and he allowed three runs and six hits in five innings of a 4-1 loss on April 20 in Chicago. The 24-year-old is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in two starts against the White Sox.
Price may get some redemption at Tropicana Field, where he is 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA in four starts this season.
He hopes the Rays’ offense can duplicate Thursday’s performance. Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria homered and Hank Blalock had a pair of RBIs in a 5-1 win. Five seems to be the magic number for Tampa Bay, which is 23-1 when scoring five runs or more.
Crawford may be the man to help them reach that number once again. He is hitting .375 (6-for-16) with a homer and two RBIs off Chicago’s scheduled starter Freddy Garcia (3-3, 5.68).
Garcia had won three straight starts before being tagged for seven runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings of a 13-0 loss to Florida on Sunday. The 33-year-old right-hander is 7-2 with a 3.63 ERA in 14 starts vs. Tampa Bay, but hasn’t faced the Rays since 2006 - the year the franchise lost 101 games.
Garcia shouldn’t expect too much run support. Chicago’s team batting average of .239 is fourth-worst in baseball and its .392 slugging percentage ranks in the bottom third of the league.
The White Sox were held to four hits Thursday and wasted a solid start from Gavin Floyd. He allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings, but Mark Teahen’s solo shot in the eighth was all the Chicago could muster against Jeff Niemann.