First pitch: Tuesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
Line: Chicago -120, Cleveland +110, Total: 8

The Cleveland Indians will travel to Chicago and play a very pivotal three-game series against the White Sox starting Tuesday night. The streaking White Sox and Indians both are chasing the struggling Tigers atop the AL Central Division. Cleveland has won four of five and are two games back of Detroit and 1½ up on the White Sox, who are 8-2 in their past 10 games.

Cleveland will send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound Monday night to face Gavin Floyd. Jimenez threw a gem his last outing, tossing eight innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out six in a 10-3 victory over Detroit on Wednesday. Floyd has been horrible at home this year, posting a 7.06 ERA and 1.41 WHIP, while his team has gone 3-6 in these nine starts. Cleveland has played well in night games (47-37, +14.3 Units) and has been a winning bet on the road (+1.6 Units, 27-32). In addition to Floyd’s home problems, Chicago as a team is only 26-33 (-16.3 Units) on its home turf. Expect a big performance from Jimenez to lead CLEVELAND to an important road victory Tuesday night.

The FoxSheets show a three-star trend supporting the Indians pick.

Play On - Any team (CLEVELAND) - poor hitting team (AVG <=.260) against a decent starting pitcher (ERA=4.20 to 4.70) -AL, with a starting pitcher whose strikes out 5 or more batters per start. (91-41 over the last 5 seasons.) (68.9%, +47.1 units. Rating = 3*).

In the only start for Jimenez (7-9, 4.37 ERA) against Chicago on June 29, he threw seven innings, allowing four hits and two runs in a 3-2 loss as a member of the Rockies. He has been much better on the road this year, sporting a 3.80 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 74 K’s in 66.1 innings.

The White Sox have dominated Cleveland recently, winning 12 of 14 meetings, including a 6-1 mark this year. Floyd (10-10, 4.53 ERA) has been terrific against the Indians this year, going 2-0 and allowing just one run in 14 2/3 innings. He is 6-3 with a 4.25 ERA in 10 career starts against them.