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The legend of Jose Abreu continues to grow, but the enormous early achievements for the rookie have yet to translate into an overall level of success for his Chicago White Sox. Antonio Allen . Abreu his and teammates shoot for back-to-back wins for just the second time since June 11 on Saturday as they battle the Toronto Blue Jays in the third of a four-game set. Trying to slow down Abreu for the Jays is rookie hurler Marcus Stroman, a product of Duke. The right-hander, making his first-ever appearance against Chicago, managed to break a minor two-game slide on Monday as he allowed just a single run on three hits, striking out seven, over eight innings against the New York Yankees at home. Stroman has appeared in four day games this season already, but the results have been somewhat hard to swallow, even though he has a record of 1-1 in such games. He is also carrying a lofty 5.65 ERA in those 14 1/3 innings. Chicago, which is alone in last place in the AL Central, has the second- highest team ERA in the league at 4.40 and is the only club yet to register a shutout on the campaign. Conversely, Toronto is second in the AL with 10 shutouts, although the Jays are 11th in overall ERA with a 4.09 mark. Chicagos first baseman posted two more home runs on Friday as the Sox slipped by Toronto in a 5-4 decision. The victory snapped a brief two-game slide for a Chicago club that is 10 games below .500 (16-26) on the road. Abreu, though, now has four multi-homer games through his first 67 contests, becoming the first player since Atlantas Bob Horner in 1978 to achieve such a feat. Abreu is also tied with Torontos Edwin Encarnacion and Nelson Cruz of Baltimore for the Major League lead in home runs with 25. "Im glad hes on my team," said White Sox starter John Danks, who picked up his seventh win of the campaign. "Im glad I dont have to face him." Danks made it through six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, two of those being home runs. A host of relievers handed the game to Jake Petricka who picked up his second save of the season by recording just a pair of outs in the ninth. Former Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey was saddled with the loss as he was hammered for four home runs, five runs overall on just five hits. The knuckleballer did strike out nine and walk only one through six innings, but it just wasnt enough. "I felt very good with it, tonight was a very bizarre outing," Dickey said. "I dont know how else to explain it, to give up five hits and four of them being home runs. To walk one guy and strikeout nine and leave the game after six innings giving up five runs, thats a bizarre outing." Encarnacion, who is second in the league in RBI with 65, delivered on his 25th home run, a solo effort, while Colby Rasmus and Dioner Navarro also went deep for a Toronto team which is still holding down first place in the AL East, 1 1/2 games ahead of Baltimore entering play today. After missing almost the entire month of March, Chris Sale is now aiming to come up with his seventh win in eight decisions as he heads to the mound for the White Sox this afternoon. The left-hander pitched on Monday against Baltimore on the road but failed to earn a decision as Chicago was handed a 6-4 loss. Sale made it through just six innings for the second game in a row, permitting a mere two runs as he scattered a season-high 11 hits and struck out three. Now in his fifth season in the majors, Sale has pitched against Toronto four times previously but is still awaiting his first favorable outcome (0-2), although he has been credited with a save in one of those contests. Alex Green . -- Ernie Els hardly ever catches a break at the Match Play Championship. David Nelson . The Crimson Tide, after a 45-3 rout of Georgia State, received 55 first-place votes and a total of 1,495 points from a nationwide media panel for the second straight week. Oregon, which has scored at least 55 points in each of its five games, picked up the other five No.PARIS - Paris Saint-Germain narrowly avoiding a second straight defeat in a scrappy 1-1 draw at mid-table Guingamp in the French league, prompting criticism of sloppy defending at set-pieces by coach Laurent Blanc on Saturday. Center half Alex headed home from a corner in the 87th minute after striker Mustapha Yatabare did the same three minutes earlier to give Guingamp the lead. PSG was outplayed by Guingamp for much of the match, three days after losing 2-1 at home to Montpellier in the French Cup. "Weve conceded two goals in three games from set-pieces," Blanc said. "At the moment our opponents know that they can hurt us on corners and free kicks. We always seem to have a player whos not really concentrating and loses their player. The same thing happened against Montpellier." Second-place Monaco can close the gap at the top to three points if it beats Marseille at home on Sunday. Blanc called the pitch "detestable" in the rainy conditions and said "it favoured one team (Guingamp) more than the other." However, Blanc praised Guingamp coach Jocelyn Gourvennec. "With the limited means he has, what Gourvennecs doing is incredible," Blanc said. With PSG star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic having a rare off day, Yatabare caught the eye and rose impressively to head Guingamp in front from Rachid Aliouis corner in the 84th. "Guingamp played with a lot of heart and caused us problems on the break," PSG goalkeeper Salvatoire Sirigu said. "We knew they were very good on set-pieces. We need to think about the mistakes we made." PSG was missing captain Thiago Silva, who sat out the match with an ankle injury and was replaced at centre half by Marquinhos, who was again out of sorts after a poor match against Montpellier. After a scrappy opening to the match, Ibrrahimovic tried his luck 40 metres out with an ambitious free kick that he blasted straight into the Guingamp wall, and Alioui went on a surging run and hit a powerful low shot just past the post. Quinton Coples. PSG responded quickly and Edinson Cavani came close to his 21st goal of the season when he turned sharply and his goal-bound shot hit a defenders thigh. On halftime, Alioui went close with a swerving free kick that Sirigu saved with his legs. "It was very hard to read the trajectory of the ball," Sirigu said. The ball bounced up and hit the crossbar, and it appeared that Guingamp should have got a penalty when Marquinhos grabbed Yatabare around the neck and pulled him down as he was about to pounce on the rebound. "I dont know if it was a penalty or not, theres no point talking about it," Sirigu said. Alioui continued to cause problems after the break, and his cross was headed just wide by Yatabare. Ibrahimovic managed his first shot on target in the 53rd, but his low strike was comfortably saved by Guy Ndy Assembe. PSG midfielder Javier Pastore, who had a disappointing game, was taken off midway through the second half and replaced by winger Lucas. But Guingamp continued to look the better side, forcing two corners in quick succession. The match between Toulouse and Bastia was postponed because of the local rivers rising water levels. Toulouses stadium is on an island and the citys prefect has banned any access due to the threat from the Garonne River, the French league said in a statement. No new date has been set. Also, it was: Ajaccio 1, Sochaux 1; Montpellier 3, Nice 1; Nantes 0, Reims 0; and Valenciennes 1, Lorient 1. In Sundays other games, Bordeaux hosts Saint-Etienne and resurgent Lyon faces Evian. Third-place Lille was held to 1-1 by struggling Rennes on Friday. ' ' ' |
