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Tigers-White Sox Preview

Jun 10, 2009 - 5:42 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (31-26) at Chicago (27-31), 8:11 p.m. EDT

After a rough start to the season, Justin Verlander is performing like the guy who was one of the best young pitchers in baseball a few years ago.

On Wednesday night, the right-hander looks to win his seventh straight decision while trying to help the Detroit Tigers to a second consecutive victory over the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

After finishing 11-17 in 2008, Verlander (6-2, 3.26 ERA) opened this season 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his first four starts. Since then, however, he appears back to the form that enabled him to go 35-15 over his first two full seasons in 2006-2007.

The 2006 AL Rookie of the Year is 6-0 with a 1.12 ERA over his last eight outings and earned AL pitcher of the month honors after posting a 5-0 record in six May starts. Verlander is in the midst of his best stretch since going 7-0 with a 1.93 ERA in eight starts from June 17-Aug. 1, 2006.

Verlander gave up four hits while striking out seven and walking four in eight scoreless innings of a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday.

"He did everything you could ask and more," manager Jim Leyland told the Tigers' official Web site.

Though Verlander's been stellar this season, he's lost his last three starts against Chicago and is 2-9 with a 5.90 ERA in 14 career starts versus the White Sox.

After the Tigers blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Miguel Cabrera snapped an 0-for-12 slump with a solo homer in the 10th to give Detroit (32-26) a 7-6 victory over Chicago on Tuesday.

Placido Polanco added a three-run double and is batting .333 (6 for 18) over the last five games for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who are 5 1/2 games ahead of the third-place White Sox (27-32) after winning two of the first three in this five-game series.

Cabrera, who's been bothered by a hamstring injury, is batting .337, but 5 for 34 (.147) in his last 11 games.

"I've never been concerned about him ever," Tigers' pitcher Dontrelle Willis said. "When you bat .340, that's not a slump. He's mentally tougher."

Cabrera is 3 for 10 lifetime against Chicago's scheduled starter John Danks (4-4, 5.10), who allowed five runs and six hits - three homers - in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-0 loss to Cleveland on Friday.

The left-hander, who has yielded nine runs in 11 innings over his last two outings, is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in six starts against Detroit.

Paul Konerko's double scored two runs in the ninth to tie the game Tuesday, but DeWayne Wise was thrown out at the plate with the potential winning run on the same play.

"I'd rather lose like that every day," said Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen, whose team has dropped seven of its last nine. "If we play like this a good percent of the time, a lot of good things are going to happen. We battled back."

Konerko is batting .476 (10 for 21) with 11 RBIs against the Tigers this season, but is 4 for 27 (.148) lifetime versus Verlander.