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Pirates aim to stay hot vs. White Sox

Jun 15, 2015 - 2:31 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Pittsburgh Pirates aim to pick up a fifth victory in a row on Monday evening when they begin an extended home-and-home series with the Chicago White Sox.

The Pirates will host the first two games of this series before traveling to Chicago for another pair of games.

Pittsburgh is coming off a three-game home sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, winning each game by one run. That includes Sunday's finale, which the Pirates claimed 1-0 on Josh Harrison's RBI single in the 11th inning.

Antonio Bastardo earned the win in relief of A.J. Burnett, who scattered five hits over nine scoreless innings to lower his season earned average to 1.89.

"He made pitches and we made some excellent defensive plays behind him," said Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. "It was wonderful to watch."

Pittsburgh hurler Francisco Liriano enters his start tonight with four straight quality outings, though off a loss last time out against Milwaukee.

Liriano went eight innings on Tuesday in a matchup with the Brewers and yielded three runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out six, but lost a 4-1 decision. It marked the left-hander's fourth setback in six decisions and dropped him to 3-5 on the year with a 3.25 ERA.

"Couple ground balls found the hole, and that's just part of the game," said Liriano.

The 31-year-old Liriano made 12 appearances with the White Sox in 2012 and is 5-4 lifetime against his former club with a 4.99 ERA in 15 games (11 starts).

While the Pirates are looking to stay on a roll, the White Sox come in having been swept in three games by the Tampa Bay Rays. They lost Sunday's series finale 2-1 despite another gem from Chris Sale that was overshadowed by a single mistake.

Sale struck out 12 batters and yielded only three hits and three walks over 6 2/3 innings. However, one of those walks came to lead off the seventh inning to Steven Souza Jr. and Asdrubal Cabrera followed by hitting a two-run homer off the White Sox starter.

"You have a team pretty much where you want them and then you make a stupid mistake and walk a guy and leave a fastball right down the middle and lose the game," said Sale. "It's really nothing more than that."

White Sox rookie Carlos Rodon will try to secure his third career major league victory in his second interleague start.

Rodon has yielded just three earned runs over his past four starts and none in Tuesday's 4-2 win over Houston. He kept the Astros scoreless over six innings, scattering four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. The 22-year-old lefty moved to 2-0 with a 2.66 ERA in nine games (6 starts).

Rodon, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, recorded his first career victory when he faced the Cincinnati Reds on May 9 in his interleague debut. He struck out eight batters over six innings of two-run ball.

The White Sox swept a three-game series in Pittsburgh when the clubs last met in 2010. Chicago has won eight of the past nine encounters overall and is 17-9 all-time in this matchup.