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White Sox-Nationals Preview

Jun 20, 2010 - 1:18 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (32-34) at Washington (31-37), 1:35 p.m. EDT

Freddy Garcia has been part of a run of strong starting pitching that has helped put the Chicago White Sox in position to finally reach .500 again.

With Garcia trying to win his fifth straight start, the White Sox look to extend their season-best winning streak to six games as they face the struggling Washington Nationals on Sunday.

A victory would give Chicago (33-34) a .500 record for the first time since it was 1-1. The White Sox were nine games under .500 on June 8 but have since won nine of 10.

Outstanding pitching has keyed the hot stretch for Chicago, which has a 1.87 ERA over the last nine games. The starters' ERA during that stretch fell to 1.62 when Jake Peavy threw a three-hitter in a 1-0 win over Washington on Saturday.

"Pitching is contagious," Peavy said. "When you watch one guy go out there and do well, you want to follow it up."

Garcia (7-3, 4.94 ERA) will take his turn in trying to do that Sunday. The right-hander has a 3.71 ERA over his four-start winning streak.

He gave up four runs in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-4 win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, failing to last at least seven innings for the first time in four outings.

Garcia has never faced the Nationals.

Chicago's pitchers could use a little more run support as they try to continue their roll. The White Sox won the opener 2-1 in 11 innings Friday night before stranding eight runners the next day.

Chicago's streak without a home run reached seven games, its longest since an eight-game drought in April 1993.

Omar Vizquel has given the White Sox little production at the plate while making starts at every infield position but first base and catcher, hitting .260 with 12 RBIs. He started at third base Saturday and played his 99th straight errorless game, but highly touted prospect Dayan Viciedo is expected to make his major league debut at that position in the series finale.

Viciedo was recalled Friday after hitting .290 with 14 homers and 34 RBIs in 62 games at Triple-A Charlotte. He will face Washington starter John Lannan (2-4, 5.45), who went 0-1 with a 10.00 ERA in his last two outings.

The left-hander took the loss in his last start, allowing seven runs and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings of a 7-4 defeat to Detroit on Tuesday night.

"That"s twice in a row now," Lannan said. "I feel fine. I don't know what's going on."

This is Lannan's first appearance against the White Sox.

Washington (31-38) has posted a 5.11 ERA in matching a season high with five consecutive losses. The Nationals' lineup has also struggled during that stretch, hitting .182 and averaging 2.2 runs.

"I've just got to believe in our guys that we're going to get some pitches, start driving them and hopefully have some men on base when we start doing it," manager Jim Riggleman said.

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has gone 4 for 30 (.133) in his last seven games and struck out a season-high four times Saturday. He is hitting .171 with two RBIs in 11 interleague games this year.