Veteran right-hander Jake Peavy can start a streak of his own and keep his Chicago White Sox red hot tonight, when they visit the Kansas City Royals for the second of three weekend games at Kauffman Stadium.
On Friday, Kevin Youkilis hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the 14th inning and the White Sox outlasted the Royals, 9-8.
A walk to Gordon Beckham and a single by Alejandro De Aza placed runners at the corners before Youkilis lifted a fly ball to deep center field off of Everett Teaford (1-3) to push across the deciding run.
Dylan Axelrod (1-2) tossed two scoreless innings of relief to earn the win for the first-place White Sox, who have won 12 of their last 16 games.
Peavy, who began the season at 6-1 through his initial 12 starts, skidded to 6-5 with losses in four consecutive outings between June 13 and 30.
His earned run average actually dropped by a fraction - 3.05 to 2.96 - but the White Sox lost to St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota and the New York Yankees while being outscored, 11-2.
He ended the skid with 7 1/3 innings of five-hit, one-run ball on July 6 against Toronto, finishing the first half of the season with a 4-2 triumph.
Peavy is 4-4 in nine career starts against the Royals with a 4.56 ERA over 53 1/3 innings in which he's allowed a .259 batting average.
For Kansas City, former first-round draft pick Luke Hochevar can continue his momentum he carried into the All-Star break.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2006 draft defeated Houston, Tampa Bay and Toronto in his final four starts in late June and July, losing only at Minnesota while trimming his ERA from 6.27 to 5.14.
The 28-year-old was a 5-0 winner over the White Sox in his last outing against them on May 12 in Chicago, allowing three hits in seven scoreless innings with a walk and five strikeouts.
He's 4-4 against them in 11 lifetime meetings.
Kansas City took two of three games in a May series in Chicago and won the 2011 season series, 11-7. The White Sox won the series in 2010, 10-8.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.