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After a marathon 14 inning game on Tuesday night, the White Sox will look to take two games in a row from the current second place Cleveland Indians. If they managed to get a win for Mark Buehrle, they will leapfrog the Indians and take over sole possession of second place in the AL Central, behind the still surging Detroit Tigers.
Mark Buehrle, 10-5 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, will make the start for the Sox. Buehrle is fresh off win against Baltimore, in which he threw 6.0 innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while striking out six. A victory against Cleveland would be Buehrle's third win in a row, and nineteenth consecutive quality start. In his last game against Cleveland, Buehrle got the win after throwing 6.0 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk. This year, Carlos Santana is 2-for-3 against Buehrle.
The Indians will counter with Fausto Carmona, 5-12 with a 5.12 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. Carmona's last start, against Detroit, saw him earn a loss after throwing 7.0 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks, while striking out six. In his last game against the Sox, Carmona threw 5.0 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out three. This year, Paul Konerko is 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs against Carmona, while Adam Dunn is 3-for-6 with a double, a home run, and 6 RBIs.
The weather in Chicago is forecast to be warm and cloud, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and a game time temperature in the upper 70's. First pitch is at 7:10 P.M., CDT, and the game will be televised on WCIU and STO-HD.
Sox Stifled By Carmona And Cleveland
The last time Fausto Carmona pitched against the White Sox, he gave up eight runs as the Sox offense ran away with a victory. That was not to be on Wednesday night at the Cell.
Gunning for second place in the AL Central, the Sox offense was stymied by Carmona, who threw 8.1 innings, giving up just one run on four hits and three walks. He also struck out six. The only run he gave up came in the bottom of the second, when Alexei Ramirez hit his 13th homer of the season to tie the game at one.
Cleveland would take the lead in the sixth inning off of Mark Buehrle, who was not quite his usual self on the mound. Buehrle threw 7.1 innings, giving up four runs on twelve hits and two walks, while striking out three. The performance ended his streak of quality starts, which had stretched all the way back to the 2010 season.
The runs came via small ball in the second inning, when Jack Hannahan singled in Jason Donald, and in the sixth inning, when Kosuke Fukudome singled in Carlos Santana. The Indians added two more runs in the seventh, off of an RBI hit by Shin-Soo Choo and a sacrifice fly by Asdrubal Cabrera.
The margin of three runs was more than enough to seal the victory, however, as the Sox just couldn’t seem to get a handle on Carmona, and then Chris Perez, who closed out the game for his 26th save of the year.
The loss drops the Sox back to 3.5 games out of first place, and 1.5 games behind the Indians. The Sox will try again in the rubber match against the Indians on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 P.M., CDT.
Aug 17 11:57p by Hilary Lee