Tonight at 8:10 p.m. ET, the Oakland Athletics (80-63) and Chicago White Sox (64-79) continue a four-game set with their second contest of the series live from U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The game can be live streamed for free here. Oakland fans can hear all of the action on 95.7 The Game while Chicago fans can do the same on WSCR 670.
Oakland has lost eight of its last 10 games and has put its postseason chances at risk as it continues a seven-game road trip through Chicago and Seattle while Chicago plays the second contest of a seven-game homestand.
The White Sox defeated the Athletics 5-4 on Monday to open up the set in what was Oakland's second straight loss and fifth loss in six games.
The A's still hold the top wild-card spot, but their lead has narrowed to one game while they are eight games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West. The White Sox are out of playoff contention entering Monday, 15 games out of the wild-card and 15.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals.
Jon Lester (3-3, 2.59 ERA with A's; 13-10 2.54 ERA overall) toes the rubber for Oakland while Chicago counters with John Danks, who is 9-10 with a 5.12 ERA.
Lester gave up two runs in eight innings in his last outing against the Seattle Mariners, but he was out-dueled by Felix Hernandez. He has seven straight quality starts since joining the Athletics.
"Give up two solo homers, I like my chances in just about any game," Lester, who is fourth in the AL in ERA and fifth with 191 strikeouts said via MLB.com. "Unfortunately, Felix was on the other side and did one better."
Lester faces a White Sox lineup that has been sparked by rookie Jose Abreu, who needs just one more RBI to become the fourth rookie in history to have 30 homers, 30 doubles and 100 RBI in their inaugural season. Abreu's 99 RBI rank him fourth in the AL.
Abreu enters play atop the MLB with a .591 slugging percentage, is second in the AL with 291 total bases and a .969 OPS, third with 33 homers and fifth in batting average (.317) and on-base percentage (.377).
Danks, meanwhile, has given up an MLB-worst 24 homers this season and is coming off of an outing where the Minnesota Twins tagged him for seven runs on 11 hits.
"Just an all-around bad night," Danks said after the loss, according to MLB.com. "It's pretty frustrating."
Danks will face an Athletics lineup that is paced by third baseman Josh Donaldson, who leads the team with 26 homers and 89 RBI while outfielder Coco Crisp owns a team-best .260 batting average
The Athletics look to hang on to the top wild-card spot in the AL while the White Sox hope to play spoiler when these teams clash tonight at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago
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