White Sox 2 - 4 Blue Jays
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Buehrle leads White Sox into second test with Jays

May 27, 2011 - 3:12 PM

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(Sports Network) - Coming off a rare victory in Toronto, the Chicago White Sox send surging left-hander Mark Buehrle to the hill tonight and he'll aim to hand the Blue Jays a fourth straight setback in the second contest of a four-game series.

Chicago's current 10-game road trip took it to the Rogers Centre last night, a place where the White Sox had lost 12 of their previous 14 trips. However, they were able to break through last night in a tight 3-1 victory thanks to a pair of errors by the Blue Jays in the ninth inning.

After starters Philip Humber and Brandon Morrow both allowed just one run over their respective outing, the White Sox broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Juan Pierre's infield single scored Alex Rios, who began the inning by reaching on a John McDonald error, and Juan Rivera's throwing error on Pierre's second hit of the game also allowed Gordon Beckham to score an insurance run.

Pierre finished with a pair of RBI and is hitting .343 (12-for-35) over his last eight games, while Humber threw 7 2/3 innings in a no-decision.

"When Juan is swinging the bat good it seems like we have more life on the bench," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Chicago has split the first four contests of a 10-game road trip and has won seven of its last 10 overall. The club will try to pick up a second straight victory tonight behind Buehrle, who will try to win four straight decisions for the first time since a five-start win streak from April 12-May 7, 2009.

The veteran is 3-0 with a 2.25 earned run average over his last four starts and won his second straight outing on Saturday versus the Dodgers. Buehrle gave up two runs on seven hits over seven innings of that 9-2 triumph, his 24th interleague victory that is the most in major league history.

Buehrle is 4-3 in 10 starts this year and has lowered his ERA to a season-best 3.92.

The 32-year-old has faced Toronto 14 times in his career, 13 of those starts, and is 5-3 with a 2.74 ERA in this matchup. A solid outing tonight could send Toronto to a season high-tying fourth straight loss, a streak the Blue Jays last endured from April 9-12.

Yunel Escobar accounted for Toronto's lone run last night with a solo homer in the sixth inning as the Blue Jays wasted Morrow's solid seven-inning start in which he gave up just four hits and two walks in addition to one run.

"I really just tried to power the ball down in the zone," Morrow said. "I felt like I was throwing straight downhill all game. I had some better movement on my fastball and just kept it down. When I was missing, I was missing down and that's a better spot for me."

Kyle Drabek gets the start tonight for Toronto and the youngster will be looking to shake off his third loss in four decisions last time out.

The 23-year-old had a solid line of three runs allowed on eight hits and three walks over six innings, but dropped a 3-2 decision to the Astros. Drabek wasn't pleased with himself afterwards even though he pitched his fifth quality start of the season.

"Not for me," Drabek told Toronto's website. "I didn't accomplish much that I wanted to. I still walked people. ... I would get ahead and then give it right back, and that's not quality right there."

The right-hander is 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in 10 starts this season and faces the White Sox for the first time in his career.

Even with Thursday's loss, Toronto has still won 19 of its last 25 versus Chicago overall.






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