Chicago @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Sep 8, 2013 ) Chi. White Sox 4, Baltimore 2
The Baltimore Orioles are returning home after a successful road trip and will attempt to make up some ground in the American League at the expense of the struggling Chicago White Sox, who visit for the start of a three-game set on Monday. The Orioles took four of six on their trip, yielding a total of one run in back-to-back wins to close excursion. The White Sox started their road trip by dropping four in a row at Minnesota.
Chicago has lost 11 of its last 15 overall to fall into last place in the AL Central and finished out its frustrating series at the Twins with three straight one-run losses. The bright spots for the White Sox continue to be in the middle of the order, where Gordon Beckham, Jose Abreu and Conor Gillaspie are thriving. Baltimore did its damage from the bottom of the lineup over the weekend, and J.J. Hardy, Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop and Caleb Joseph combined to drive in all of the runs from the bottom four spots in Sunday’s 8-0 triumph over the New York Yankees.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, CSN Chicago, MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: White Sox LH Chris Sale (6-1, 2.20 ERA) vs. Orioles LH Wei-Yin Chen (7-2, 3.78)
Sale bounced back from his first loss by holding San Francisco to three runs while striking out seven over six innings on Wednesday. The Florida native succeeds in part by not wasting baserunners and has issued a total of three walks in his last six turns. Sale made his lone career start against Baltimore on Aug. 28, 2012, and was knocked around for four runs in as many innings to suffer the loss.
Chen turned in his third straight quality start last Monday at Tampa Bay, holding the Rays to three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Like Sale, the Taiwan native is stingy with the free passes and has issued two walks in his last six outings. Chen has made three career starts against Chicago, posting a 1-0 record with a 2.60 ERA in 17 1/3 total innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Orioles 1B Chris Davis is 4-for-36 with 14 strikeouts in his last nine games.
2. Abreu drove in four runs over the last three games, increasing his rookie-best total to 57.
3. Baltimore 1B/DH Steve Pearce has recorded multiple hits in five straight games.
PREDICTION: White Sox 5, Orioles 2