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Aug 13, 2009 - 7:06 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Chicago (58-57) at Oakland (51-63), 10:05 p.m. EDT

Despite their recent slump, the Chicago White Sox are well within striking distance of the AL Central lead.

Chicago, though, has to start taking advantage of scoring opportunities if it plans on playing in the postseason.

The White Sox continue their six-game road trip Friday night when they open a weekend set against a resurgent Oakland Athletics club looking to win four straight series for the first time since 2007.

Coupled with Detroit's 8-2 loss at Boston, Chicago (58-57) remained two games behind the division-leading Tigers after Wednesday's 1-0, 14-inning loss to Seattle. It was the longest the White Sox had been held scoreless in one contest since a 3-0, 16-inning defeat at the California Angels on Sept. 22, 1975.

Chicago, which has dropped five of seven, had 10 hits Wednesday, but left a season-high 14 runners on base. The White Sox had an opportunity to score with one out in the 10th, but Scott Podsednik was picked off at third by Mariners catcher Rob Johnson.

"'What are you thinking?' That's all you can say," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "You don't expect that to happen at the big league level. You expect everybody to know what they're doing ... I guess he was thinking about something else."

Guillen, whose club has lost 12 of 15 on the road since winning seven straight away from Chicago from June 20-July 3, hands the ball to Jose Contreras in the series opener.

Contreras (4-11, 5.09 ERA) could be pitching for his spot in the rotation as he's gone 0-4 with a 6.75 ERA in his last five starts. On Sunday versus Cleveland, Contreras gave up four runs and six hits over 4 2-3 innings in the 8-4 loss.

"Believe me, I hope it was (the heat) because if it wasn't we're in trouble," Guillen said of Contreras' struggles. "He was cruising real well, throwing the ball real well, attacking the strike zone the way we think he can do then all of a sudden everything was bad."

Contreras is 1-2 with a 7.85 ERA in four starts in Oakland.

The A's will be trying to win four consecutive series for the first time since June 1-14, 2007. After taking three of four from Texas and two of three against Kansas City, Oakland (51-63) defeated Baltimore 6-3 on Wednesday to win three straight series for the first time since April 2008.

It was also the A's franchise-record 28th game in 28 days.

"Everybody's contributed, everybody's played hard," manager Bob Geren said after his club went 14-14. "You look at the 28 days and how difficult it was going to be, but the guys rose to the challenge. They all deserve a lot of credit."

Rookie left-hander Brett Anderson (7-8, 4.22) takes the mound for Oakland, which opens a nine-game homestand.

Anderson, 4-1 with a 2.22 ERA in his last eight outings, won his last start. He yielded three runs and six hits over six innings in Sunday's 6-3 road victory over the Royals.

Anderson struck out four and allowed six hits in seven innings in a 7-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field on June 4.

Oakland won three of four in Chicago in June in the teams' only meeting in 2009.

The White Sox took two of three in their last visit to Oakland from Aug.15-17.