• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

White Sox in search of fifth straight win vs. Mariners

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:10 AM Seattle (46-79) at Chi White Sox (72-53) 8:11 p.m. EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- In the midst of the tightest division race in the American League, the Chicago White Sox have the benefit of playing the league's worst team. The White Sox will go for a sweep Wednesday when they host the lowly Seattle Mariners.

Chicago is one game up on the Minnesota Twins (71-54) for first place in the American League Central and has dominated the first two games of this series, taking both by a combined 18-5, to run its winning streak to four straight.

Rookie Clayton Richard earned his first major league win on Tuesday, tossing six scoreless innings while allowing five hits. Nick Swisher and Jim Thome each homered in the win.

The Mariners have dropped five straight and nine of 10 and currently lead only the Washington Nationals (44-82) in the race to avoid baseball's worst record.

Gavin Floyd (12-6, 3.75 ERA) will be looking to put together back-to-back strong outings when he takes the mound Wednesday. The righthander had allowed a total of 10 runs in consecutive outings against the Tigers and Red Sox but bounced back Friday at Oakland, yielding one earned run in 5 2/3 frames.

Floyd did not fare well in his last start against the Mariners, allowing five runs in 3 2/3 innings to suffer a loss on May 11. In four games - two starts - in his career against Seattle he is 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA.

Seattle will counter with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (3-7, 4.92), who tied a record Sunday with four wild pitches in an inning of relief against the Twins. Dickey is 2-7 with a 6.03 ERA as a starter.