Virginia-born right-hander Justin Grimm aims for a third straight victory on Thursday night when the Texas Rangers host the Chicago White Sox in the rubber match of a three-game series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
A 24-year-old, Grimm debuted for 2013 with four innings of work in a no- decision against Seattle - a game Texas won, 4-3 - and has since strung together consecutive defeats of the Mariners and Minnesota for the second and third wins of his career.
He was 1-1 in five appearances last season for the Rangers, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft.
In the two April victories, Grimm allowed 11 hits and one earned run in 13 innings with one walk and 13 strikeouts.
He gave up three runs in three innings of a single relief outing against the White Sox last season.
For Chicago, veteran Jake Peavy makes his 289th career appearance and fifth against the Rangers.
The 31-year-old is 0-2 in four previous starts against Texas while allowing 18 runs in 21 1/3 innings and a .294 opposition batting average.
He was 1-1 this season after two starts, but has since gone 2-0 in three outings while lowering his earned run average from 5.56 to 3.38.
In his last start, on April 26 against Tampa Bay, Peavy gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-4 victory.
On Wednesday, Conor Gillaspie broke a tie game with a solo homer in the seventh inning and the White Sox took the middle game of the series, 5-2, to snap a three-game skid.
Alejandro De Aza tacked on a two-run homer after Gillaspie's blast to back a strong start from Chris Sale (3-2), who remained perfect against the AL West by scattering six hits and two runs over seven innings of work.
Rangers rookie Nick Tepesch (2-2) took the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 frames. Jeff Baker hit a solo homer and Ian Kinsler went 3-for-5 with an RBI in Texas' third loss in four games.
The White Sox won six of nine meetings with Texas last season.
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