Carlos Quentin

The Red Sox are reportedly interested in bringing a couple White Sox aboard, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted Saturday that the Sox are “pushing hard” for outfielder Carlos Quentin and left-handed pitcher Matt Thornton.

According to the tweet from Nightengale, the White Sox would have to be “overwhelmed with prospects” in order for a deal to be consummated.

Quentin, 28, is hitting .261/.352/.507 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs. Thornton has a 3.28 ERA and 1.60 WHIP out of the bullpen for Chicago.

Tim Wakefield

The Red Sox’ three-game weekend road trip to Chicago starts Friday night, when they will look to avenge the White Sox’ Fenway sweep at the end of May. The White Sox are a sub-.500 team, but they’ve played much better recently, winning four of their last five games. They were 10 games back in the AL Central on May 1, and they’ve since gained seven games.

Tim Wakefield will try for his 200th career win Friday night. The Red Sox have won Wakefield’s last four starts, although Wakefield only won two decisions while posting a 6.94 ERA and .379 opponent batting average. In typical fashion, Wakefield continues to alternate between strong starts and poor starts. The Red Sox seem content to put up with that inconsistency, however, because they only need Wakefield as a fifth starter and they have more pressing rotation needs elsewhere.

Wakefield has struggled in his career against the White Sox, going 7-12 with a 4.97 ERA. His numbers at U.S. Cellular Field (4-7, 4.83 ERA) are slightly better. He took a no-decision against the White Sox on June 1, allowing four earned runs on seven hits, a walk and four strikeouts.

Wakefield’s June 1 opponent was Gavin Floyd, and Friday night they’ll face off again. Floyd has rebounded from losing his last two starts before the All-Star break, winning his last two and allowing just one earned run in his last 15 1/3 innings. He has struck out 10 and walked just one during that stretch.

Floyd has always been a tough pitcher for the Red Sox, posting a 5-0 record with a 3.83 ERA in six career starts. He won that June 1 start this season.

Floyd has shown a vulnerability to the long ball against the Red Sox, allowing seven home runs in seven total games. Both Floyd and Wakefield have allowed 12 home runs as starters this season, although Wakefield has also allowed three home runs as a reliever to Floyd’s one.

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Carlos Quentin

The Braves are considered to be one of the teams on the lookout for a new right fielder and after losing the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes, they seem to be sighting their sights instead on White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin. FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Braves are “hot” for the right fielder and that the two teams could be a match given Chicago’s interest in Atlanta’s “young arms.”

Quentin was named an All-Star for the second time in his career and is hitting .262 with 20 home runs and 62 RBI this season.

Rosenthal adds in a subsequent tweet that the health of Dayan Viciedo, the player who would presumably take over for Quentin in the South Side, could hold up any trade between the two teams. The 22-year-old is down in Triple-A Charlotte but has not played since Saturday due to a thumb injury.

The Red Sox lost both legs of their day-night doubleheader with the White Sox, dropping the nightcap and wasting a strong effort from John Lackey in a 3-1 loss. The offense struggled to get anything substantial going against White Sox righty Gavin Floyd, picking up just one run off the starter on an RBI single from Marco Scutaro.

For the recap of the first game, click here.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

- The White Sox’ lone run in the third was an ugly one. After Lackey allowed a leadoff triple to White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, he recovered nicely by getting Ramon Castro swinging. With one man out, Gordon Beckham grounded to first and Victor Martinez came home with the ball.

Quentin appeared to be toast at the plate, but despite having the ball a few steps prior to the outfielder’s arrival, Jarrod Salatalamacchia dropped it when contact was made between the two. This allowed the run to score and Saltalamacchia to be charged an error on the failed fielder’s choice. The play made for one of the two unearned runs for Lackey on the night.

- The Red Sox didn’t exactly put themselves in position to pile it on Gavin Floyd throughout the night and didn’t pose much more of a threat to the bullpen. They put only three runners in scoring position the entire night, only one of whom scored, in the form of Ryan Kalish. The rookie outfielder’s run put the Sox on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Scutaro singled past a diving Beckham and into right on the 88th pitch from Floyd.

- Kalish had a bit of an adventure in the seventh inning, which allowed the White Sox’ second run to score. After Quentin doubled to center off Lackey, Kalish’s errant throw in went into uncharted territory past second base and into foul territory, where Saltalamacchia ran to retrieve it. By the end of the play, a run had scored and Quentin, who improved to 7-for-11 off Lackey, was standing on third. Quentin would go on to score on a sacrifice fly from Castro.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

- John Lackey was very good for the first six innings before running into some trouble in the seventh. Though he threw a lot of pitches early due to deep counts and/or baserunners, he got more efficient as the night went on. After taking 28 pitches to retire the first four hitters, including an eight-pitch at-bat that culminated in a strikeout of Alexei Ramirez, Lackey stayed sharp at a more economical rate through the fifth (he averaged 7.0 pitches to his first four batters and 3.25 to his next 16). He then cruised in the sixth, taking 10 pitches to retire the side in order and pick up his seventh strikeout of the night.

Though things did take a turn for the worse in the seventh due to Quentin’s continued dominance of the righty and some poor defense by the Sox, Lackey still had one of his better nights as a member of the Sox. On the night, Lackey gave up four hits and two walks over his seven innings, with just one of the White Sox’ three runs earned. He struck out seven and hit a batter on 116 pitches.

Speaking of hit batsmen, and making the night more impressive for Lackey was the fact that he executed knowing he had to be careful throwing inside on hitters. Eyebrows were raised when Lackey plunked Quentin in the at-bat following his play at the plate, which caused home plate umpire James Hoye to warn both dugouts.

Both managers protested, as the plunking loaded the bases with two down. Lackey came back to strike out Castro to end the inning, getting him out of the jam. Daniel Nava later fell victim to a drilling of his own in the sixth inning but Floyd saw no punishment.

- After going 2-for-4 in the day game with a pair of bad strikeouts, Bill Hall was the bright spot offensively for the Red Sox. Hitting ninth, the second baseman went 2-for-2 with a double off Floyd. Prior to Saturday, Hall had mustered just one hit over his last four games. Hall was pinch-hit for in the seventh with Jed Lowrie, who struck out swinging in each of his two at-bats.