Preview: White Sox At Athletics

[May 12, 2014]  John Danks will look to continue his success against Oakland when the Chicago White Sox begin a nine-game road trip with a visit to the Athletics on Monday. The Chicago southpaw is 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA in nine career outings against Oakland, while limiting Athletics’ batters to a collective .222 average. Oakland’s Derek Norris smacked two three-homers in Sunday’s 9-1 victory over Washington and his six RBIs matched the club record by a catcher, tying Mickey Cochrane (1931) and Joe Astroth (1950).

The Athletics outscored the Nationals 21-4 during a three-game weekend sweep and bring a four-game winning streak into the series. Oakland has allowed just four runs during the stretch and leads the majors with a plus-61 runs differential. The White Sox fell to Arizona on Sunday to drop a game below .500 and have scored just four runs over their last two games as slugger Jose Abreu went 1-for-7 with four strikeouts.

TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, WCIU (Chicago), CSN California (Oakland)

PITCHING MATCHUP: White Sox LH John Danks (3-2, 4.93 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Jesse Chavez (2-1, 2.47)
 

Danks defeated the Chicago Cubs in his last outing to halt a two-start losing streak. He gave up three runs and four hits in six innings against the Cubs to rebound from a dreadful start in which he gave up eight runs and 10 hits in five innings against Cleveland on May 2. Danks has given up three or fewer earned runs in five of his seven starts.

Chavez gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings while losing to Seattle in his last turn. The rough outing followed a superb effort in which he tossed seven innings of one-hit shutout ball while beating Texas. Chavez is 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA in seven career appearances (all in relief) against the White Sox.

WALK-OFFS

1. White Sox DH Adam Dunn is 2-for-19 over his last seven games and hasn’t homered since April 24.

2. Athletics 1B Daric Barton is 6-for-13 with three walks against Danks, while INF Nick Punto is 4-for-24 against him.

3. Chicago 1B/DH Paul Konerko is 4-for-4 against Chavez and SS Alexei Ramirez is 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

PREDICTION: Athletics 5, White Sox 3

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