Chicago @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 29, 2016 ) Chi. White Sox 3, Detroit 4

The Detroit Tigers could not afford a third straight loss to a sub-.500 team if they wanted to keep the pressure on in the American League wild card race, and the bats came through just at the right time. The Tigers will try to make it back-to-back victories when they host the Chicago White Sox in the second of a three-game series on Tuesday.

Detroit was down 3-2 in the eighth inning on Monday and in danger of another poor offensive performance after two consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Angels before Jarrod Saltalamacchia saved the day with a go-ahead, two-run homer in a 4-3 victory. The win, coupled with a loss by the Baltimore Orioles, pushed the Tigers within one game of the second AL wild card and kept them 4 1/2 behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. The White Sox (63-67) are trying to make a push back to .500 while wreaking some havoc at the top of the Central. Monday began a string of 20 games in the next 26 that Chicago will play against Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City – the three teams above it in the division standings.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, CSN Chicago, FSN Detroit

PITCHING MATCHUP: White Sox RH Anthony Ranaudo (1-1, 9.61 ERA) vs. Tigers LH Daniel Norris (2-2, 3.63)

Ranaudo is looking for his first win in his fourth start as a member of the Chicago rotation and struggled in his last two outings. The LSU product was ripped for a total of 11 runs and 13 hits – three home runs – in 9 1/3 innings against Cleveland and Seattle but escaped without a decision in both turns. Ranaudo’s lone win came in relief against Detroit as a member of the Texas Rangers on May 7, when he allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings.

Norris enjoyed his longest outing of the season and picked up a win on Thursday at Minnesota, when he scattered two runs and six hits across 6 1/3 innings. The 23-year-old did not walk a batter and notched five strikeouts in the win. Norris is seeing Chicago for the first time in 2016 but went up against the division rivals twice last season, going 1-0 while allowing a total of one hit in 10 scoreless innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Tigers CF Cameron Maybin (left thumb contusion) left Monday’s game and had x-rays come back negative, leaving him day-to-day.

2. Ranaudo is starting in place of RHP Miguel Gonzalez (groin) who is set to go out on a rehab assignment and could return early next month.

3. Detroit LF Justin Upton has homered five times in his last eight games.

PREDICTION: Tigers 8, White Sox 4