(Sports Network) – Illinois native Randy Wells gets his second taste of the Windy City Series this afternoon when he starts for the Cubs in the opening game of a three-game interleague series with the visiting White Sox at Wrigley Field.
The teams enter the weekend in similarly mediocre positions, with the Cubs third in the National League Central and the White Sox also third in the AL’s Central. The Cubs trail first-place Cincinnati by 7 1/2 games in the NL and the White Sox are 8 1/2 games in back of Minnesota in the AL.
Wells, a 27-year-old right-hander, won his lone start against the White Sox last season on June 26, getting a 5-4 victory after allowing five hits and two runs in seven innings.
He started off 3-0 this season but is winless in seven starts since, including a 6-3 loss at Houston on June 6, in which he gave up nine hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings.
His last win was April 30 against Arizona.
Opponents are hitting .307 against Wells at Wrigley in 2010 and .290 overall.
For the White Sox, righty Jake Peavy makes a ninth career start against the Cubs.
The 29-year-old is 3-2 in eight starts with a 2.74 earned run average over 46 innings against the Cubs, all from his time with the San Diego Padres – with whom he debuted in 2002 and stayed with through the middle of 2009.
Peavy won all three starts after joining the White Sox last season, but has struggled to just four wins in 12 starts in 2010.
He was beaten, 3-1 by Cleveland in his last trip to the mound, allowing six hits and two runs in seven innings. He was tagged for 10 hits and five runs in 5 1/3 innings a start before, but got an 8-5 win at Tampa Bay.
Peavy is 2-2 on the road this season with a 6.92 ERA.
On Thursday in Chicago, Omar Vizquel and A.J. Pierzynski each homered to back seven shutout innings by John Danks, as the White Sox topped Detroit, 3-0, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Danks (5-5) walked four and allowed one hit to take the victory. He held the opposition scoreless for the first time all season, helping Chicago win for the third time in its last four games.
Vizquel, who homered for the first time this season and the second time since 2008, finished with two runs batted in.
In Milwaukee, Carlos Gomez scored the game-winning run on a throwing error in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the Brewers edged the Cubs, 5-4, in the rubber match of a three-game series at Miller Park.
Chicago reliever Bob Howry (1-1) walked Gomez, pinch-hitting for John Axford (3-1), on four pitches to begin the 10th. Craig Counsell dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third base line as Gomez took off for second.
Counsell was thrown out at first, but Gomez continued to third base. Xavier Nady’s throw to third sailed over the head of catcher Koyie Hill, allowing Gomez to score the winning run.
Nady hit a two-run homer and added a sacrifice fly for Chicago, which went 3-6 on its road trip. Ryan Dempster allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings.
The White Sox won their season series with the Cubs a year ago, taking four of the six matchups.