Ozzie Guillen hopes his team can break out of its funk Saturday against Blue Jays starter Carlos Villanueva (2-0, 1.53 ERA), who is slated to make his second spot start for the injured Jesse Litsch (right shoulder impingement) .
In his first start since 2009, Villanueva allowed one run, two hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings in Monday’s 7-3 win over the New York Yankees. The right-hander, who had a 1.48 ERA in 13 relief appearances coming in, struck out the side in the first and made a season-high 75 pitches.
“He was very poised,” manager John Farrell said. “Even in a starting role it didn’t change his demeanor.”
Villanueva made his only career appearance against the White Sox on June 13, 2009, throwing a scoreless inning of relief for Milwaukee.
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Chicago counters with Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.26), who gave up a run and five hits while striking out seven in 5 2-3 innings in Sunday’s 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the third time in four starts the right-hander yielded one run or less.
Jackson is 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his last four starts in Toronto, but hasn’t pitched there since 2009. In his lone outing against the Blue Jays last season, Jackson gave up five runs in 7 2-3 innings of an 8-5 win for Arizona on May 22.
Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak Friday with its 15th win in 19 games against the White Sox at Rogers Centre.
“We needed this one, for sure,” Farrell said.
Yunel Escobar doubled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, and Juan Rivera doubled twice and drove in a run.
Escobar is batting .323 with two homers and four RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak, while Rivera is hitting .394 with four doubles and four RBIs during a nine-game run.
After scoring at a staggering rate, the Chicago White Sox are suddenly struggling at the plate.
Chicago (24-29) couldn’t get much going in Thursday’s opener against the Blue Jays, managing a run through eight innings before taking advantage of two Toronto errors in the top of the ninth to score twice en route to a 3-1 victory. The White Sox were unable to build on this late rally, however, and were limited to five hits in Friday’s 4-2 loss.
Chicago, which hasn’t lost consecutive games since dropping three in a row May 3-6, has totaled six runs while batting .188 in its last three games after plating at least eight runs in four of its previous six contests.
Leadoff hitter Juan Pierre had three hits Friday after singling twice Thursday, but the Nos. 2-5 hitters in Chicago’s lineup are a combined 2 for 32 in the two games at Rogers Centre.
No. 3 hitter Carlos Quentin, 1 for 11 in his last three games, is scheduled to have the day off Saturday, so Ozzie Guillen said he would move Adam Dunn in his place.
Dunn, recently dropped from fifth to seventh in the order, walked in his four plate appearances Friday after striking out in all four at-bats Thursday.
“It seemed like he was more patient at the plate, not trying to rush,” Guillen said. “Hopefully this will be a good start.”
