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Harrison goes eight strong to earn 11th win

One day he was an All-Star. The next he was June's American League Pitcher of the Month. It's been quite a week for Matt Harrison.

Harrison, who is tied with David Price for the AL lead with 11 wins, went 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA in June with those five wins tying a team record for most in a month.

"It's very humbling. I still don't believe it," Harrison said. "Going to the All-Star Game and finding out Pitcher of the Month for the American League, it's just unbelievable. And hopefully I can take that month and build off that and just continue doing well."

In his last eight starts, Harrison is 7-0 with a 1.42 ERA, and he has delivered quality starts in 11 of his 16 outings this year. He'll take the mound against the White Sox Thursday for the first time since his 2012 debut. He'll try to help the Rangers avoid getting swept for the first time this year. He tossed six shutout innings, giving up four hits, striking out three and walking two in a 5-0 victory over the White Sox on April 8.

"The biggest thing is just being able to keep the ball down around the knees and make them put the ball on the ground," Harrison said. "In the past, if I had walked a guy on four pitches when I had been doing good, I would get caught up with that and worry about what happened and then the next batter I'm not focusing on that pitch, and I'd leave one over the plate and give up a home run or something like that."

Harrison's Thursday counterpart, White Sox rookie Jose Quintana, had an impressive June in his own right, going 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA, striking out 20 and walking nine in 34 innings. He gave up six runs on eight hits, striking out five and walking three, in a 14-7 win over the Yankees on Friday.

Rangers: Holland returning from DL
Yu Darvish will not make another start before the All-Star break, and taking his place in the rotation will be Derek Holland, who has been on the disabled list since June 7. Darvish is 10-5 with a 3.59 ERA and 117 strikeouts, the third-most in the AL. He led the AL Final Vote going into Thursday's final day of balloting and may become the eighth Rangers player to go to the All-Star Game.

"Physically I am fine, but the front office and the coaching staff have decided that, since this is my first year, to give me some extra rest," Darvish said in a statement. "I will accept that and take advantage of that time. If I am selected to the All-Star team, I should be able to participate in the game."

Rookie left-hander Martin Perez, who picked up a win his first big league start on Saturday, will start Friday's series opener against the Twins. Holland, who was placed on the DL with shoulder fatigue but was also suffering from a stomach virus, will start Saturday, while Roy Oswalt will start the series finale on Sunday.

• The White Sox handed the Rangers a 19-2 loss Tuesday, the team's worst defeat since a 23-2 loss to the A's on Sept. 30, 2000. The 19 runs were the second-most in the Majors, trailing only the 21 runs the Mariners scored in a win over the Rangers May 30. Oswalt, who has allowed a career-high 13 hits in each of his last two starts, gave up a career-high 11 runs on Tuesday.

White Sox: Dunn joins elite company
Adam Dunn homered and drove in two runs in Tuesday's 19-2 win over the Rangers, giving up 25 home runs and 60 RBIs this season. He is now the fifth player in White Sox history with that many homers and RBIs before the All-Star break, joining Jermaine Dye (2006), Jim Thome ('06), Frank Thomas (1994, 2000) and Dick Allen (1974).

Dunn was selected to his second All-Star Game on Sunday, his first since 2002, when he played for the Reds. He is batting .213 this year and slugging .518, leading the AL with 126 strikeouts and 66 walks.

• The game-time temperatures for the first two games of this series have been 93 and 97 degrees, respectively. The average game-time temperature during the last three home games before this series, a three-game set against the Brewers June 22-24, was 79.7 degrees.

"Guys have to hydrate," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "It's not the first time they've done it. It's nice to have warm weather. This is probably a little over the top. Both sides have to worry about the same thing. You never know how long guys are going to go. Some guys handle it a little bit better than others."

Worth noting
• Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus went 0-for-5 on Wednesday, snapping his hit streak at 10 games. He was batting .400 during the stretch and is batting .347 in his last 18 games.

• Rangers reliever Robbie Ross' 1 2/3 innings in Wednesday's game extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings.

• White Sox backstop A.J. Pierzynski caught his 1,500th career game Wednesday, the most among active catchers and good for 30th all-time.

• The White Sox are 9-9 in their last 18 games on the Fourth of July, while the Rangers are 23-20 (.535) and, even after Wednesday's 5-4 loss, have won nine of their last 13. The White Sox beat the Rangers, 5-3, on Independence Day in 2010. Wednesday marked just the second time in 15 years that the White Sox went homerless on the Fourth of July.

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