Jose Quintana takes another stab at his first win since May 21 on Thursday when the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles play the rubber match of a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field.
Quintana has gone seven straight starts without a win, posting a 4.57 ERA in that span. He allowed five runs and three walks over six innings in a 9-8 loss to Cleveland on Friday, as closer Addison Reed blew a save in the ninth.
For Baltimore, Zach Britton has given up three runs or less in three starts since being recalled from the minors on June 18, although he has failed to last six innings in each of those starts.
Britton has a 1.29 ERA in two career starts against the White Sox.
Baltimore evened up the series with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday night behind yet another offensive onslaught from Chris Davis, who launched his 32nd home run of the season in the fourth inning. Davis later broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run double in the eighth. He has gone deep four times in his last four games and leads the majors in home runs to go along with 83 RBI through only 85 games.
"He's doing something special right now," O's starter Scott Feldman said. "I've always been cheering for him ever since he got traded (to Baltimore). It's nice to see him succeeding like this. It's awesome."
Meanwhile, in the home team dugout, Adam Dunn has gone deep nine times over his last 22 games to go along with 24 RBI and a .312 average in the same span.
"He's (locked in), he's swinging it good," manager Robin Ventura said. "Even (Tuesday) he gets out, but he still lines out, a lot of hard contact from him lately. He's going to walk, he's going to strike out, but the hard contact is probably the best thing. This is a good stretch for him."
The White Sox will need Dunn to stay dialed in with reliever Jesse Crain (right shoulder strain) and first baseman Paul Konerko (lower back strain) landing on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday. Chicago entered Thursday 15 games below .500 and 11 games out in the American League Central.
"You've got to go through injuries and flukey things that happen in this sport," Crain said. "Obviously, with me and Paulie going on the DL on the same day, on top of everything that has happened this year, it's obviously not what we're hoping for. But that's the life of a team and you've got to keep working through things and deal with the punches as they come."
This is the first series of the season between these two clubs. Baltimore won six of eight meetings in 2012.
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