CHICAGO -- Although they had little desire to head East
for one game Monday, the Chicago White Sox return home on a
winning note to open a three-game set with the Kansas City Royals
on Tuesday.
After finishing a four-game sweep of Detroit the day before,
Chicago was forced to travel to Boston for a makeup game with
the Red Sox on Monday, only to hustle back for the series with
Kansas City.
However, the White Sox made the most of the difficult scenario,
posting a 5-3 win over the Red Sox behind seven scoreless
innings by rookie Brandon McCarthy.
Although it was unwilling to get out of town, Chicago's triumph
was not without significance. It opened a four-game lead over
Boston in the race for the top record in the American League and
maintained a 9 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central
Division.
That lead has a chance to be expanded with the Royals in town.
The White Sox are 10-2 in the series this year and have won all
six meetings at home.
Orlando Hernandez (8-7, 4.92 ERA) is 3-1 lifetime against Kansas
City but has struggled of late, losing his last four decisions.
He was reached for six runs in five innings of a 9-2 loss to
Texas on Wednesday.
Hernandez is 1-5 with a 4.97 ERA in eight starts since coming
off the disabled list in mid-July.
Coming off a 17-8 rout of Texas on Sunday, the Royals turn to
Jose Lima (5-13, 6.56), who has an 8.54 ERA in 16 games -
including nine starts - against Chicago in his career.
However, Lima managed a strong start in his last meeting with
the White Sox, yielding a run in six innings of a 7-1 win on
July 26.