Ubaldo Jimenez will go for his second straight win with the Indians and will try to remain undefeated in the American League when Tribe visits the Chicago White Sox at 8:10 tonight to open a critical three-game series.
The White Sox are in third place in the AL Central, but are only 3.5 games behind Detroit and a game and a half behind Cleveland. Chicago has won 8-of-10 games to reach .500 at 60-60.
Jimenez defeated the Tigers in his last start, going seven innings and giving up three unearned runs in a 10-3 Indians' victory last Wednesday. The win lowered Jimenez's ERA in the AL to 3.46.
Jimenez has faced Chicago once in his career, while with the Colorado Rockies on June 29. In that game, Jimenez worked seven innings and gave up only four hits and two runs, but received a no-decision in the game at Coors Field.
The White Sox will send Gavin Floyd (10-10, 4.53 ERA) to the hill on Tuesday. Floyd is 2-0 vs. the Tribe in 2011, having toiled for 14.2 innings and having given up only one run on nine hits.
Floyd beat Cleveland in Chicago on May 19, and also defeated The Good Guys on July 22 at Progressive Field, to run his record to 6-3 in 10 career starts against Cleveland.
The second game of this series will be on Wednesday at 8:10 when Fausto Carmona (5-12) takes on Mark Buehrle (10-5), and the series will conclude on Thursday, also at 8:10, with the mound opponents being Justin Masterson (9-7) and Phil Humber (8-8).
Chicago has taken six of the seven meetings between these two clubs in 2011.