White Sox 5 - 6 Astros
Final
  for this game

White Sox attempt to get back to .500 in middle tilt with Astros

May 17, 2014 - 2:54 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago White Sox try to work their way back to .500 Saturday as they clash with the Houston Astros in the second of a three- game series at Minute Maid Park.

Chicago, which put an end to a four-game slide with a 4-2 victory against Oakland on Wednesday, also captured a 7-2 win versus the Astros in the series opener on Friday in order to move to 21-22 on the season overall.

Unfortunately, a split of the last 10 games on the schedule also has the Sox staring at tie with Kansas City for third place in the American League Central, seven games out of first.

Jose Quintana was credited with the win for Chicago last night, his second in five decisions this season, as he scattered seven hits, resulting in just two runs over five innings. Quintana walked two and struck out five along the way.

"He's done a lot for us to keep us in games, and he hasn't won any games out of that," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Quintana. "He's notorious for coming out with a no-decision. It was nice for us to get some runs after that and get him a win."

Adam Dunn connected on his sixth home run of the season, the 446th of his career, and knocked in three runs overall for the visitors as they moved to 10-12 on the road. Conor Gillaspie plated a pair as well.

As for the Astros, the team with the fewest wins (14) in the American League and already 12 games out of contention in the AL West, they picked up RBI from George Springer and Jason Castro as they had a two-game win streak come to an end.

Starter Collin McHugh absorbed the loss for Houston as he permitted four runs on just three hits, walking four and fanning seven through 5 1/3 innings of action.

"Truthfully, I didn't have very good command all night," McHugh said. "I walked four guys from the get-go. I knew my stuff was good today, but my command was spotty at best and it kind of came back to bite me in that inning. You walk a couple of guys in the lineup like this and any one of the six guys in the middle of that order can beat you."

Right-hander Hector Noesi is set to take the hill for the White Sox this afternoon in the Lone Star State. The hurler, who began the 2014 campaign as a member of the Seattle Mariners, before heading to Texas and then eventually the Windy City, has yet to register a victory during his travels.

Last weekend Noesi faced off against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home and was touched for eight hits and three runs, while walking three and striking out four in six innings during a 5-1 defeat.

Noesi, who broke into the majors with the New York Yankees in 2011, has faced the Astros three times previously and has a 6.75 ERA in 2 2/3 innings.

As for the hosts, they've penciled in Jarred Cosart as their starter today. The right-hander had lost three straight decisions since winning his first game of the season against the Yankees back on April 2, but finally moved back into the win column last Sunday as he and the Astros defeated Baltimore on the road, 5-2.

In that outing Cosart lasted six innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits and a pair of walks, adding three strikeouts along the way. While he hasn't been overly wild, Cosart has been charged with 20 bases-on-balls in just 44 innings of action this season.

This game marks just the second appearance all-time for the Texas native versus Chicago, his only other performance lasting six innings and failing to result in a decision.

Houston, which has the worst team ERA in the AL (4.70), which the White Sox are close behind (4.68), won the head-to-head series between the squads both last season (4-3) and in 2012 (2-1).






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