(Sports Network) - The Cleveland Indians will try to halt a five-game losing streak to the Chicago White Sox tonight, when the two American League Central foes face off for the second test of a three-game series at Progressive Field.

It isn't hard to figure out why the Indians are having trouble defeating the first-place White Sox -- they simply aren't scoring enough runs. Cleveland has been outscored 22-8 during its slide to Chicago and hadn't scored more than two runs against them in that time until Monday's 6-3 extra-inning setback.

That's a far cry from when the Indians plated a total of 17 runs in winning their first two tests versus the White Sox this year.

The Indians jumped out to an early 3-1 edge thanks to a solo homers by David Dellucci and Jhonny Peralta as well as an RBI single by Victor Martinez, who went 3-for-6 in the game.

However, a solo homer by Jim Thome in the sixth and a run-scoring single by A.J. Pierzynski in the seventh led to extra frames, and the White Sox exploded for three runs in the 12th to claim the win. Orlando Cabrera, Carlos Quentin and Brian Anderson each drove home a run in the inning.

The win was Chicago's second in a row and 10th in their last 12 games overall, and the club holds a three-game edge over Minnesota in the AL Central standings. Cleveland, meanwhile, lost its ninth game in 10 contests.

Chicago's Bobby Jenks got his 13th save of the year and 100th of his career after he pitched around two hits in the 12th.

Cleveland will try to find the scoreboard tonight and hopefully reward Aaron Laffey, who starts this evening. Laffey is just 2-3 on the season but has pitched very well this year, having held opponents to two runs or fewer in each of his last four starts. The Indians have scored just three runs in his three losses.

That includes an outing on Thursday, when Laffey held the White Sox to a pair of runs over seven innings while striking out six in a 3-1 loss. The left- hander fell to 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in two career starts against the White Sox.

It was thought that Laffey might have been making his final start for the Indians tonight, but an injury to Fausto Carmona may have changed that. Carmona is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a left hip strain.

Prior to Carmona's injury, it was believed that Laffey would be sent down with Jake Westbrook slated to return from a rib injury. Instead, Westbrook will likely just replace Carmona in the rotation.

Mark Buehrle will try to make it three outstanding outings in a row tonight for Chicago. After allowing 15 total runs (13 earned) in back-to-back losses to the Twins and Angels, he halted a five-decision losing streak with a win over the Giants on May 17. Buehrle allowed just a run in that one, then got a no-decision against Cleveland on Thursday.

The left-hander allowed just a run on two hits and four walks versus Cleveland, giving up a run-scoring double to Grady Sizemore in the third inning. Buehrle kept the Indians off the board the rest of the way and left the game with the score tied 1-1.

Buehrle, who is 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA this season, rebounded nicely against Cleveland after getting tagged for seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings against the Tribe back on March 31. Lifetime, he is 8-11 with a 4.79 ERA against Cleveland in 31 games, 30 of those starts.

Cleveland won 11-of-18 games in the season series last year.