After ending skid, White Sox pursue another win over A's (Jun 23, 2018)

The Chicago White Sox snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory Friday night over the Oakland Athletics.

Now, the White Sox will try to start building momentum in a positive direction.

Chicago (25-50) will go for back-to-back wins when it hosts Oakland (39-37) on Saturday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. The White Sox and A's are coming off a doubleheader split and have two games left in the four-game series on Chicago's South Side.

The matchup will represent a personal milestone for White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (3-2, 2.90 ERA), who will face the A's for the first time in his career. The A's drafted him in 2013 in the fourth round, but Chicago selected him in the Rule 5 draft before the start of last season.

Covey endured a turbulent 2017 campaign but has performed much better this time around. The 26-year-old went five straight starts without a defeat before falling short in his most recent outing Monday against the Cleveland Indians. He gave up four earned runs on six hits over six innings in that 6-2 defeat.

This will be Covey's 20th start in the big leagues. He is 3-9 with a 5.95 ERA in his career.

"On the outside looking in, I would say he's on a path that leads us to believe he's turning a corner and getting to where you feel comfortable with all of his approaches, when he's attacking hitters, and that's going to be able to have this become a sustainable activity for him," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said to the Chicago Sun-Times. "The stuff is good. It's always going to be, for all pitchers, trusting the stuff and commanding strikes."

For Oakland, right-hander Daniel Mengden (6-6, 4.06 ERA) is set to make his 16th start of the season. The Houston Astros drafted Mengden in the fourth round in 2014, and he was traded to Oakland the next season as part of a package for veteran left-hander Scott Kazmir.

Kazmir has not pitched in the big leagues since 2016, but Mengden appears to have a bright future at age 25. He has struggled recently, however, allowing 16 earned runs in his past 14 1/3 innings for a 10.05 ERA during that span. He has given up eight home runs in that time.

In his only career appearance against the White Sox earlier this season, Mengden allowed only one run and six hits in eight innings. He walked one and struck out six while picking up the win in Oakland's 8-1 victory.

A's outfielder Matt Joyce could remain in the lineup one day after he was activated from the 10-day disabled list with a lumbar strain. He hit .196 with seven home runs and 13 RBIs before the injury, and he went 0-for-2 in his return Friday night.

"Obviously, he's been a big part of our lineup," A's manager Bob Melvin said to mlb.com. "Maybe not the year he envisioned up to this point, but we feel like he's swung the bat a lot better than his numbers would suggest. He had a couple of hits the last couple of games, and he's healthy again."

The White Sox are 13-25 at home. The A's are 19-17 on the road.