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Sanchez gets the call for Tigers in finale with White Sox

Sep 11, 2013 - 2:59 PM (Sports Network) - Anibal Sanchez will get his turn at the Chicago White Sox when his Detroit Tigers conclude a three-game series Wednesday in the Windy City.

After Max Scherzer failed in his attempt for a 20th win in this series opener, Rick Porcello evened this set with a complete-game performance in Tuesday's 9-1 win. Porcello allowed one run and seven hits to improve to 12-8 and both Prince Fielder and Alex Avila had four hits. Fielder homered and drove in two runs, while Avila added two RBI and two runs scored.

Porcello was rocked in a 20-4 loss at Boston last Wednesday and allowed nine runs, eight of which were earned, in five innings.

"The last outing was a rough one, and I really wanted to bounce back," Porcello said. "So it was a good sign on a personal level and also on a team level. We really needed this win. It's been kind of a rough road trip."

The Tigers are 3-5 on a nine-game road trip and 5 1/2 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians for the AL Central lead. They will start a 10-game homestand Friday with the first of three straight games versus Kansas City.

Detroit is counting on Sanchez to maintain his AL-leading 2.61 earned run average Wednesday and he is 6-0 with a 2.24 ERA in his last nine starts. The Tigers are 8-1 in that time and provided the right-hander with plenty of run support in Friday's 16-2 win at Kansas City. Sanchez gave up just a run in seven innings to push his record to 13-7 in 25 starts.

Sanchez has made two career starts against the White Sox and is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA. In 13 road starts this season, Sanchez sports a 5-5 mark.

The White Sox fell back into the loss column following their modest two-game winning streak, which followed a nine-game slide. Erik Johnson couldn't outduel Porcello on the mound and was touched for six runs -- two earned -- and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

"I had some tough breaks out there, but I thought I attacked the zone as best that I could," Johnson said.

Conor Gillaspie finished with two hits and an RBI and Paul Konerko contributed a pair of hits and a run scored for Chicago, which took Monday's opener of this set by a 5-1 score and is 1-1 on a 10-game homestand.

Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, currently serving a 50-game suspension for violating the league's performance enhancing drug policy, is expected to start working out with his team Wednesday in Chicago. He is eligible to rejoin the club on Sept. 26.

"We'll make a baseball decision at some point as we get closer if we want to activate him for the regular season, and then if we're fortunate enough to make the postseason, if he's on that roster or not," White Sox GM Dave Dombrowski told the Tigers' website. "That's a decision to be made in the future."

The White Sox will start a four-game series versus Cleveland Friday, but hope Jose Quintana can pitch them to a series win Wednesday. Quintana, though, is winless (0-2) in his previous four starts and suffered a hard-luck loss in Thursday's 3-1 setback at Baltimore, where he gave up all three runs and seven hits through seven innings.

Quintana is 2-4 in his past six decisions and 7-6 with a 3.70 earned run average in 29 starts. In three lifetime appearances (all starts) against the Tigers, the left-handed Quintana has a 2-0 record and a 3.66 ERA.

The Tigers are 9-6 against the White Sox this season.