Cleveland @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 24, 2011 ) Chi. White Sox 4, Cleveland 2

THE STORY: The Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox both still have their sights set on the American League Central crown. The hopes of one of the clubs could take a serious blow this week as they begin a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday. Cleveland, which visits division-leading Detroit over the weekend, trails the Tigers by two games while Chicago is 3 1/2 games back. The White Sox have won six of their seven meetings with the Indians this season.

TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), CSN (Chicago)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 3.46 ERA) vs. White Sox RH Gavin Floyd (10-10, 4.53 ERA).

Jimenez will be making his third start since being acquired from Colorado on July 31. After yielding five runs over five innings at Texas in his Indians debut, the 27-year old allowed three unearned runs in eight frames Wednesday to notch the win over Detroit. Jimenez has recorded 13 strikeouts in as many innings with Cleveland while walking just four.

Floyd has won four of his last five starts, allowing five earned runs over 29 innings in the victories. The 28-year-old has given up one run over 14 2/3 frames in beating Cleveland twice this year. Floyd is 6-3 with a 4.25 ERA in 10 career starts against the Indians but has gone 3-5 with a 7.06 ERA in nine home outings this season.

ABOUT THE WHITE SOX (60-60): Chicago is 2-1 on its nine-game homestand and has won eight of 10 overall since New York came to town and swept a four-game series at the beginning of the month. Paul Konerko enters Tuesday with an 11-game hitting streak. Chicago released Brian Bruney on Monday after the righthander refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Charlotte. The 29-year-old reliever appeared in 23 games in his only season with the White Sox, going 1-0 with a 6.86 ERA. Bruney surrendered 11 runs and 12 hits over three innings in his final four appearances.

ABOUT THE INDIANS (60-57): Cleveland has won four of its last five games overall but has dropped four of six on the road. Shin-Soo Choo has had little difficulty against Floyd over his career, going 7-for-17 (.412) with a home run and nine RBIs. Thanks to Sunday's rainout, Cleveland will play its final 45 games over a 44-day span. The Indians bullpen has been untouchable of late, tossing 19 scoreless innings over the club's last five contests.

FINAL PITCH: Asdrubal Cabrera's home run on Saturday was his 20th in 116 games this year. Cabrera, who had just 18 blasts in 387 contests over his first four seasons, joined Woodie Held and Jhonny Peralta as the only shortstops in franchise history to reach the 20-homer plateau.