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White Sox-Royals Preview

Jun 28, 2010 - 1:29 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Chicago (39-34) at Kansas City (31-44), 8:10 p.m. EDT

The Chicago White Sox dominated the NL during an 11-game winning streak, but their record against their own division is far from impressive.

Coming off the team's first loss in two weeks, the White Sox will try to bounce back Monday night when they open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Chicago (39-35) went on a tear through interleague play the last two weeks, pulling within 1 1/2 games of AL Central-leading Minnesota after trailing by 9 1/2 games on June 9.

The White Sox won 15 of 16, including 11 straight against NL teams, before an 8-6 loss to the Cubs on Sunday left them with a 15-3 interleague record.

The defeat snapped a stretch of 10 straight quality starts by Chicago pitchers. John Danks gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings, but said the team feels good heading into this week.

"We've been winning games and fortunately the teams in front of us were losing," he said. "We're in striking distance now, and we're in a range where felt we would be going into the season so just have to continue to play good baseball."

Playing better against the Central is a must. The White Sox are 12-15 against their own division, splitting six games versus the Royals (32-44). Chicago has given up four or more runs in four of those games.

One of those starts was by Mark Buehrle (6-6, 4.60 ERA), who was reached for six runs and eight hits in six innings of a 6-1 loss at Kansas City on May 14.

The left-hander, however, has been superb lately and is looking to win his fourth straight start. He gave up two runs in six innings of a 4-2 victory over Atlanta on Wednesday, and has a 1.80 ERA during his three-start win streak. The White Sox have won six of his past seven outings after losing his previous six.

Buehrle is 20-10 with a 3.64 ERA against the Royals, but has been roughed up for a 7.00 ERA in the last three meetings.

Kansas City has won three of four following a five-game skid, beating St. Louis 10-3 on Sunday. Wilson Betemit hit a three-run homer, Jason Kendall added a pair of two-run doubles and Jose Guillen extended his career-best hitting streak to 21 games with a single in the third.

Betemit's home run was the team's first in eight games, ending a 69-inning drought. The Royals rank 12th in the AL in home runs with 52, five of which have come against the White Sox.

"To be able to take a good swing on a ball and put the ball in the seats is big for us," manager Ned Yost said. "It changed the whole flow of the game."

Yost will hand the ball Monday to Anthony Lerew (0-1, 4.76), who will make his third start since being called up from Triple-A Omaha in place of the injured Luke Hochevar.

After giving up two runs in six innings of a 5-2 win over Houston on June 17 in his season debut, the right-hander allowed four runs and 10 hits - two homers - in 5 1-3 innings of a 4-3 loss at Washington on Tuesday.

Lerew, who had Tommy John surgery in 2007, is winless in seven career starts. He has reached the sixth inning in only three of those appearances.