(Sports Network) - Righty Armando Galarraga takes the hill for the first time since his near-perfect game when the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox open a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field this evening.
Galarraga was one out away from becoming the third pitcher this season to throw a perfect game last Wednesday, but was robbed of the honor thanks to a blown call at first base by umpire Jim Joyce, who called Cleveland's Jason Donald safe on a ground ball to first baseman Miguel Cabrera.
Replays showed that Galarraga clearly beat Donald to the bag while receiving Cabrera's toss, but Joyce made an emphatic safe call. After the game, though, Joyce admitted his error.
"This isn't 'a' call. This isn't -- this is -- this is a history call," said Joyce, who was in tears the following day when presented the lineup card by Galarraga. "And I kicked the [expletive] out of it. And there's nobody that feels worse than I do. I take pride in this job, and I kicked the [expletive] out of it, and I took a perfect game away from that kid who worked his [butt] off all night."
Commissioner Bud Selig, though, would not reverse the decision.
It was still the best outing of the 28-year-old Galarraga's career, as the one-hit shutout upped his season record to 2-1 while lowering his earned run average to 2.57.
Galarraga has faced the White Sox five times (three starts) and is 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in those outings.
Detroit enters tonight's contest reeling a bit after dropping two of three over the weekend to the Kansas City Royals, including a 7-2 setback in Sunday's rubber match at Kauffman Stadium.
Jeremy Bonderman (2-4) took the loss after allowing all seven runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Tigers are in the midst of a six-game road stretch and are a dismal 12-17 away from home on the year.
"The road hasn't been too kind to us all year and we're trying to figure out how we can start playing better on the road," Tigers outfielder Johnny Damon said. "We're just not hitting like people thought we would be at the beginning of the season."
Chicago, meanwhile, salvaged the finale of its three-game series with the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, as Carlos Quentin broke a tie game with a two-run single in the seventh and the White Sox held on for an 8-7 comeback victory.
Quentin finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, Alex Rios had two hits, scored three runs and drove in a run, while Paul Konerko added a two-run homer for Chicago, which has won just two of its last six.
"I think everybody took pride in their at-bats and worked hard," Konerko said of the comeback. "It kind of just happened. There wasn't a rallying speech or anything like that. People just took pride in their at-bats, worked hard and it all came together."
J.J. Putz (1-2) got the win for throwing a perfect seventh inning and Bobby Jenks hurled a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save of the season.
Tonight the White Sox will turn to righty Gavin Floyd, who is 2-6 with a 6.64 ERA. Floyd did not make it out of the third inning of his last start Wednesday against Texas, as he was hammered for six runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings.
The loss was his second straight and he fell for the fourth time in his last five decisions.
Floyd, though, could get off the schneid tonight. He is a perfect 5-0 with a 3.34 ERA in 12 starts against the Tigers.
These teams played a rare one-game series earlier in the year, with Chicago walking away with the win. It had been a scheduled two-game set, but the opener was postponed by rain and will be made up on August 3.