Floyd goes for White Sox in San Francisco
Posted: Fri May 16 10:58 AM
(Sports Network) - Gavin Floyd struggled in his first start since his near no- hitter, and will try to regain his form tonight when the Chicago White Sox begin a three-game interleague set against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.
Floyd held the Twins without a hit through 8 1/3 frames on May 6 before Joe Mauer doubled off him to end the bid. The right-hander left after the hit and picked up his third win of the season, and hoped to carry that momentum into his next start last Sunday.
However, Floyd was hammered for five runs on nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners, falling to 3-2 on the season while lifting his earned run average to 3.32. Another no-hit bid quickly went out the window, as Ichiro Suzuki doubled as Seattle's first batter in the bottom of the first and later scored on a ground out.
A former first-round pick by the Phillies in 2001, Floyd faced the Giants in 2006 as a member of Philadelphia and earned a win after six innings of three- run ball. He gave up homers to Omar Vizquel and Randy Winn in that game.
The White Sox will hope for a solid outing tonight from Floyd, as the club had a 5.05 ERA in interleague play last year on the way to a 4-14 mark versus the National League. The Pale Hose also hit just .241 versus the Senior Circuit last year.
The White Sox are still 104-89 all-time in interleague action, though.
Chicago improved to 4-3 on its current 10-game road trip by winning Thursday's finale of a four-game set with the Angels, 4-3. Jim Thome drove in the game winning run in the ninth inning and A.J. Pierzynski went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Thome has 53 home runs in interleague action, the most all-time, to go along with 133 RBI.
Former Angel Orlando Cabrera and Juan Uribe each drove in a run for the White Sox, who have won five of their last eight games. Uribe, though, left the game after the sixth inning with a hamstring injury and is doubtful for tonight.
Javier Vazquez started the game and was charged with three runs -- two earned -- on nine hits with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Octavio Dotel (2-2) got the win for pitching 1 1/3 innings.
The Giants have lost eight of 11 and blew a 6-0 lead in Thursday's finale with Houston. San Francisco saw that advantage slip away for good when Lance Berkman's solo homer in the ninth lifted the Astros to an 8-7 win.
Giants starter Tim Lincecum was solid in six innings, as he allowed three runs on five hits and three walks, and struck out 10. But Tyler Walker, who turned 32 on Thursday, allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen, while Vinnie Chulk (0-2) gave up Berkman's homer and took the loss.
Vizquel and Winn each had three hits, while John Bowker drove in three runs. Winn extended his hitting streak to 10 games, and he is batting .381 (16- for-42) over that run.
Jonathan Sanchez starts for the Giants. Since an outstanding one-run, eight- inning win over the Reds on April 25 that saw Sanchez strikeout 10, the left- hander has gone 0-1 with a 7.54 ERA. He faced the Phillies on Sunday and got a no-decision after allowing three runs on four hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings of work.
Sanchez, who is 2-2 with a 4.89 ERA this year, has never faced the White Sox and in fact will be making his first interleague start, though he has faced the American League 11 times in relief.
The Giants went just 5-10 in interleague action last year and are facing the White Sox for the first time since taking two of three against them in 2003.
