CHICAGO (CBS) — Sweep or else?

Whatever hopes the Chicago White Sox have of making a playoff run essentially come down this weekend’s series against the Central Division leading Detroit Tigers.

The South Siders are 51/2 games back and probably need to take all three games–or at minimum two of three–from the Tigers, starting tonight in Detroit.

“It’s definitely not a ‘have to’ — it’s, ‘We need to,’” White Sox closer Sergio Santos told MLB.COM. “I think we need to win two out of three there.”

“Obviously, two out of three is going to help,” White Sox starter Jake Peavy said. “At some point in time, in these next three or when the Tigers come here, we have to beat them three games to have a chance to climb back in it.”

And that won’t be easy. The Sox face Justin Verlander (20-5), who has lost just once since the All-Star Break–tonight at Comerica Park. Lose tonight, and the games Saturday and Sunday are must wins for Ozzie Guillen’s crew.

“I’m not going to go out there saying, ‘Wow, we’re going to sweep them,’” Guillen told MLB. “They’re setting it up with the best pitcher they have. Hopefully, we don’t get swept in Detroit. If we don’t get swept in Detroit, we’re still hanging in there.”

John Danks (6-9) takes the mound tonight at 6:05 p.m. Saturday’s matchup: Gavin Floyd (12-10) vs. Brad Penny (9-10). Sunday’s matchup: Mark Buehrle (11-6) vs. Max Scherzer (13-8).

CHICAGO — Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and Tyler Flowers added his first home run in the majors to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Konerko went deep in the third and Flowers added a solo shot in the fifth to help the White Sox snap a seven-game home losing streak. Flowers also had a single and a walk.

Juan Pierre had three singles and scored two runs for Chicago.

Jesse Crain (7-3) got the win in relief after pitching out of starter Jake Peavy’s jam in the seventh and his own in the eighth. Chris Sale got the last three outs, earning his fourth save.

Peavy allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Luke Hochevar (8-9) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs in six innings. He had won four straight decisions and hadn’t lost in eight starts dating to June 21.

Billy Butler stroked a two-run single for the Royals, and Johnny Giavotella added two hits and an RBI.

The White Sox have won seven of last their last nine, but they had lost seven straight at U.S. Cellular Field by a combined score of 54-17.

The start of the game was delayed by 1 hour, 25 minutes due to thunderstorms that moved through the Chicago area late Saturday afternoon. There was another delay of 42 minutes prior to the start of the eighth.

The White Sox took the lead with a two-run seventh. Carlos Quentin drove in the tying run with an RBI double into the left-field corner. Alejandro De Aza forced in the go-ahead run with a bases loaded walk.

Both runs came with Royals reliever Aaron Crow on the mound but both were charged to Hochevar, who issued a single and a walk to start the inning before being pulled.

Hochevar pitched out of jams effectively for most of the game, allowing the leadoff man to reach in six of seven innings.

The Royals overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a four-run rally in the fifth. Butler’s two-out, two-run single put the Royals up 4-2.

Butler got his chance when White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had Melky Cabrera intentionally walked in front of him to load the bases.

The White Sox cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth on Flowers’ first homer. For Flowers, who was playing in his 25th game over the last three seasons, it was also his first career RBI.

With two outs and one on in the third, Konerko hit a 1-2 fastball into the left field seats, putting the White Sox up 2-0. It was Konerko’s 27th homer and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

After the Royals fell behind 5-4, they got the first two runners on in the eighth against Crain, but Salvador Perez bounced into an inning-ending double play.

Notes: White Sox C A.J. Pierzynski (bruised left wrist) was out of the lineup Saturday and manager Ozzie Guillen said he doesn’t expect him to play Sunday against Royals LHP Jeff Francis. … Konerko (left knee) said he is close to being able to return to playing defense. Guillen said Wednesday is the earliest he would consider putting Konerko back at first base. Konerko hasn’t played in the field since being hit by a pitch on July 31 against Boston. … Adam Dunn (personal) was not with the team Saturday and Guillen said he won’t play until Tuesday since the lefty Francis takes the hill Sunday and the team is off Monday. … The Royals and White Sox will play the finale of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon. Francis will start for Kansas City against Chicago’s John Danks. Francis has allowed just four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings in two starts against Chicago this season but has ended up with no-decisions in both outings. Danks started the season 0-8 but is 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA in his last eight starts. The ERA is the fourth-lowest in baseball over that span. … Kansas City’s Melky Cabrera went 2 for 3. He’s hitting .400 (60 for 150) since July 2, the best average in the major leagues. … Mike Moustakas went 0 for 4 and fell to 0 for 31 against the White Sox in his first big-league season.

TORONTO — Gordon Beckham’s bruised left eye also sported shades of dark red. But the Chicago White Sox second baseman believes he can return to the starting lineup as soon as Monday night in Boston.

“I can see fine,” Beckham said Saturday, one day after a one-hop throw from center fielder Alex Rios struck him. “Once the swelling goes down, I think I’ll be in there.”

Most of the swelling Beckham suffered had subsided, and his vision was intact. X-rays revealed no fractures.

“When he left here, we thought it was going to be worse,” manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Beckham said he didn’t go into shock and wasn’t in any serious pain when he the ball hit him.

“I just knew it hit me in the right spot, and I just wanted to stay down and not move it too much because I really didn’t know what had happened,” he said. “But I figured I was fine. The ball hit me basically in the eye, which is never good. …

“It’s always good to know your eye is OK, because that goes beyond baseball. You want to be able to see. When I heard it was fine, I was obviously happy. So it’s a matter of time before this black eye goes away.”

Notes

• Minnesota has decided to place RH reliever Joe Nathan on the disabled list due to soreness in his surgically repaired elbow.

• Houston placed LHP Wandy Rodriguez on the 15-day DL. He was scratched from Saturday’s start against Arizona after complaining of soreness in his left elbow. An MRI revealed fluid buildup in the joint.

• The game between the Red Sox and Tigers in Detroit was postponed by of rain. The game will be made up in a day-night doubleheader Sunday.

Reporting from Chicago

After being rushed up from the minor leagues a month ago to help the Dodgers’ offense, Jerry Sands is gradually finding his stride at the plate.

But it wasn’t until Saturday that the right-handed batter hit his first major league home run.

Sands said the lack of a home run hadn’t frustrated him but acknowledged it had weighed on his mind and he was glad to get the first one behind him.

“You could say it was something off my back, more of a milestone for me,” he said after belting a 1-0 pitch from left-hander Mark Buehrle into the left-field stands at U.S. Cellular Field, where the Dodgers lost to the Chicago White Sox, 9-2.

“It was good to get one; wish it could have come in a win,” said Sands, a 23-year-old North Carolina native.

The home-run ball also was returned to Sands so “it’s going to be a good memory for me,” he said.

Sands overall was batting .205 but he also has nine doubles so far this season.

Uribe injury

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said an MRI exam Saturday found that infielder Juan Uribe suffered a “mild strain” of his left hip flexor muscle, adding to the Dodgers’ list of injured infielders.

Uribe was hurt in Friday night’s game against the White Sox while making a catch of Alex Rios’ pop fly. Uribe left the game after the sixth inning.

“We’re going to make a decision [Sunday] on where we go” in terms of whether Uribe might have to be put on the disabled list, Mattingly said.

Shortstop Rafael Furcal (broken left thumb) and third baseman Casey Blake (left elbow surgery) already are on the disabled list, though the Dodgers hope Furcal can return to the lineup as early as Sunday and that Blake might be able to return in the next week or so.

Furcal was back in the Dodgers’ clubhouse Saturday after a rehabilitation stint in the minor leagues. He slightly injured his left knee while sliding in a game last Tuesday that left “a little bruise” but was not serious, Furcal said.

“Everything is fine,” he said, but Furcal still went through after-game drills Saturday to make sure he was ready “because l don’t want to come back and then in the middle of the game and get [taken] out because I couldn’t do it.”

Mattingly was asked whether the Dodgers would be quick to put Uribe on the disabled list to get a healthier player on the active roster. “Yeah, makes sense,” Mattingly said.

“You can kind of get away with it here” at an American League park because the Dodgers can use the designed hitter, “but once we get back in the National League you just can’t do it,” Mattingly said.

Aaron Miles, another utility infielder and switch hitter, has a slight left rib-cage muscle pull, and that’s somewhat limited his range, Mattingly said. Uribe mainly has played third base during Blake’s absence, but he was playing second base Friday with Miles resting.

And finally

The only Dodger with more than one hit Saturday was 38-year-old Juan Castro, the recent call-up from triple-A Albuquerque who also drove in the go-ahead run in the Dodgers’ win Friday night over the White Sox. Castro singled twice.

james.peltz@latimes.com

CHICAGO — The 2011 debut for White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy seems to be narrowed to April 29 or 30 at home against the Baltimore Orioles.

Peavy threw an easy 34-pitch bullpen session at U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday and will now head out for a minor league rehab start at Double-A Birmingham.

One last minor league start is set for next Saturday, April 23, and is scheduled for Triple-A Charlotte.

Peavy would then be in line to start for the White Sox on April 28 at Yankee Stadium in the finale of a three-city, 11-game road trip, but he doesn’t sound interested in coming back on that day.

“That’s Johnny Danks’ day,” Peavy said.

Barring any rainouts or rotation changes, Philip Humber would be in line to open the next homestand on April 29. Peavy coud replace Humber in the rotation that day, or Humber could pitch, leaving Peavy to return the following day on a full week of rest.

By giving Humber one last start, it would give the other members of the rotation an extra day of rest during a stretch when the White Sox are scheduled to play 20 games in 20 days.

“I’m excited to [return to the major league rotation] but I guess I’m at ease with the plan,” Peavy said. “I’m doing what I’m asked to do and told to do and I’m at peace with pitching Monday and Saturday and if they think I’m ready after those two — and I certainly think I will be — I can’t see me not starting.”

Doug Padilla covers the White Sox for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

GLENDALE, Ariz.— All of a sudden, the Chicago White Sox lineup broke loose.

Carlos Quentin had four hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs Friday to power Chicago to an 18-1 rout of the Oakland Athletics.

Quentin singled and doubled twice, but he wasn’t the only White Sox hitter who had a big day. Paul Konerko homered and drove in three runs, and Gordon Beckham had three hits, three RBIs and scored four runs. Tyler Flowers added a two-run homer in the eighth.

Konerko and Quentin hit consecutive homers to start the third. Chicago sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth to open a 14-1 cushion.

“Yesterday I had people all over me because we only had three hits,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “Then today we score (18) so all of a sudden they say, ‘Save it for the season.’”

The White Sox jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first on two-out RBI singles by Konerko, Quentin and Alexei Ramirez. A three-run homer by Beckham in the second extended it to 6-1.

John Danks pitched six solid innings for Chicago, yielding four hits and a run while striking out four. But the most important statistic was the number in the walk column: zero.

“This is the biggest step toward being ready, results-wise,” he said. “I threw all four pitches for strikes.”

The left-hander had walked eight batters through his first 10 1-3 innings in Cactus League play.

“Hopefully, the pitching we’ve been throwing out there carries over and the offense carries over,” Danks said.

Oakland starter Bobby Cramer gave up eight runs and nine hits (including three homers) over three innings. Josh Willingham had an RBI single in the first for the A’s.

Cramer tweaked his back in the first inning as he picked off Ramirez at first base for the third out. Cramer said it wasn’t anything serious, but the injury still took its toll.

“I felt like I had a chance on every pitch in the first inning,” he said. “First pitch of the second inning on, I didn’t feel right. I couldn’t finish, didn’t have my legs under me. I felt like I was fighting myself.”

Cramer said it’s a recurring problem that he battles through from time to time.

Vying for a spot in the starting rotation, he was having a great spring with a 3.00 ERA through four appearances.

“I’m not that guy who can afford to have a (bad) outing like I had today. I have to pitch my (rear end) off every time,” he said. “I’ve never had a game like that at any level. That was embarrassing.”

Phil Humber pitched three hitless innings for a save.

NOTES: Oakland CF Coco Crisp left the game due to tightness in his left hamstring, but immediately tweeted that he isn’t concerned and expects to play Saturday. Crisp leads the team with 16 hits this spring. … White Sox RHP Jake Peavy was in the clubhouse after being absent the previous two days with flu symptoms. Peavy still expects to make his scheduled start Saturday, but Guillen said the team would monitor him very closely.