Preview: Brewers at White Sox
The Milwaukee Brewers will go for their seventh straight series win when they wrap a three-game set against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Milwaukee (37-22) is coming off a 5-0 win on Saturday after dropping the series opener. The latest win marked the Brewers' fifth shutout of the season and their 12th victory in the past 16 games.
Meanwhile, Chicago (17-38) will try to bounce back at home to win the series. The White Sox have lost seven of their past nine.
White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (1-1, 3.63 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season. He has walked seven and struck out 14 in 17 1/3 innings. He has yet to allow a home run.
Covey never has faced Milwaukee -- the club that drafted him in the first round (No. 14 overall) in 2010 but did not agree to terms with him before the signing deadline. Instead, Covey played college ball at the University of San Diego and was drafted in the fourth round three years later by the Oakland Athletics.
Now 26 years old, Covey said he held no ill feelings toward the Brewers.
"Definitely been some ups and downs since (2010)," Covey said to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But I'm here now and I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to try to help this team win some ballgames.
"I'm excited to face (the Brewers). But it's not a grudge match."
Milwaukee will counter with left-hander Brent Suter (5-3, 4.63 ERA), who will make his 11th start. The Harvard product has won his past three starts and has issued only 12 walks to go along with 48 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings.
Suter never has faced the White Sox. He is 3-1 with a 3.48 ERA in six interleague games (five starts).
One player who Suter will have to look out for is White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, who carries an 18-game interleague hitting streak into Sunday's series finale. Abreu is hitting .300 with 20 doubles, nine home runs and 31 RBIs in 54 games.
"We're on the right path," Abreu said through an interpreter to the Chicago Tribune. "We all want to win right now, and it's tough to lose games, but we all have to keep our focus on the future and what we're trying to accomplish."
Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain is no stranger to playing on Chicago's South Side. The longtime member of the Kansas City Royals is hitting .277 (100-for-361) with 11 home runs and 49 RBIs in his career against the White Sox.
Cain is one of four Brewers players looking to homer in back-to-back games. He notched his seventh home run on Saturday, and teammates Erik Kratz (second homer), Jonathan Villar (fourth) and Jesus Aguilar (10th) also went deep.
Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun needs one more stolen base for 200 in his career. He ranks third in franchise history behind Paul Molitor (412) and Robin Yount (271).
Chicago is 9-19 at home. Milwaukee is 19-11 on the road.