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The
Chicago White Sox
haven't had to worry about scoring runs against the
Kansas City Royals
at U.S. Cellular Field this season.
The AL Central leaders look for a seventh straight home victory over the Royals when the teams continue their weekend set
Saturday night.
Chicago (55-40) returned from the All-Star break with a 9-5 win over Kansas City on Friday to improve to 6-1 against the Royals
this season.
Chicago has pounded Kansas City (43-54) at U.S. Cellular in 2008, batting .300 and scoring 30 runs over four victories.
On Friday,
Jermaine Dye
had three hits with two RBIs while All-Star
Carlos Quentin
added two hits and his 23rd home run as the
White Sox
scored six times in the first inning to highlight their third straight home victory.
"They had four days off to recoup themselves mentally and physically. ... To see them come out and swing the bat that way,
you feel a little bit better," said
White Sox
manager
Ozzie Guillen
, whose team is 33-13 at home.
Dye picked up where he left off at the break and is 9-for-14 with five RBIs in his last three contests. Quentin, meanwhile,
is 8-for-19 with two homers and six RBIs in his last four games.
"I was surprised we came out like that after four days off and being able to see the ball like we did," said Dye of the
White Sox
, who have totaled 29 runs and 50 hits in winning two of their last three games.
The
White Sox
look to continue their offensive success while facing Kansas City's
Gil Meche
(6-9, 4.71 ERA) on Saturday. Meche is 6-3 with a 4.38 ERA in 13 career starts versus the
White Sox
, but allowed five runs in 5 2-3 innings of a 6-2 loss at Chicago on June 5.
Meche hasn't factored in either of his last two decisions and gave up four runs in one inning and 10 hits in 6 2-3 innings
of a 5-4 win over Seattle on July 12.
"I made some mistakes and before I could blink four runs scored and they had the lead," said Meche, who hasn't won since June
27 against St. Louis.
Chicago counters with
Gavin Floyd
(10-5, 3.63), who returns home looking to bounce back from his shortest outing of the year last Saturday. He allowed six runs
and five hits in 2 2-3 innings of a 7-2 loss at Texas.
"I struggled with all my pitches," said Floyd, who issued a career-high seven walks in his last start. "Instead of relaxing
and slowing down, the game sped up on me."
Floyd is 7-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 10 starts at home and 1-1 with a 3.46 ERA in three career outings against Kansas City. He
allowed two earned runs in seven innings of a 9-5 home win over the Royals on June 3.
Kansas City hopes to have cleanup hitter
Jose Guillen
back in the lineup after he missed Friday's game with back spasms.
"It's one of those things you got to battle through," said Royals manager Trey Hillman of Guillen, who is batting .270 with
13 homers and 65 RBIs.
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