Clay Buchholz hasn't been much for April pitching for three straight seasons now. In the first, things never came around. They did last year, and he seems confident that'll be the trajectory of the coming months.

The Boston Red Sox starter begins May on Wednesday night in Chicago, where the White Sox will try to get to 12 games over .500 in 28 games or less for the seventh time in franchise history.

Buchholz (0-3, 6.51 ERA) gave up five runs and eight hits with four walks in Thursday's 5-3 home loss to Atlanta. He's given up five earned runs in four of his five starts after giving up five or more twice in 18 last season.

"I wouldn't ever go on a bad streak if I knew what I had to do not to go on them," Buchholz told MLB's official website. "I think it just happens sometimes. Team is going good and everybody is throwing the ball well, and it's falling on me right now. I haven't been throwing the ball as well as the other guys. It usually stops and turns and goes the other way at some point, too."

It's the third straight season Buchholz has struggled enormously through April. Last year, he was 1-3 with a 5.76 ERA. In 2014, the right-hander went 1-2 with a 6.66 mark. He's 14-16 with a 4.91 ERA - his worst of any month - in 39 April starts.

This season, it's in part been a control thing with 4.23 walks per nine innings, which is a major regression after posting a career-best 1.83 mark in 2015.

Against the White Sox, Buchholz is 2-3 with a 4.25 ERA in eight starts. Facing Brett Lawrie could potentially bring those numbers down with the Chicago newcomer going 3 for 28 against him, while Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton are both 0 for 6.

Carlos Rodon (1-3, 4.33) has had a couple rough starts of his own recently. The left-hander gave up six runs - four earned - and eight hits in seven innings of Friday's 6-3 loss in Baltimore, dropping him to 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA in his last three.

Nevertheless, manager Robin Ventura was happy with how he threw, and Rodon said it was a matter of making a seventh-inning mistake to Nolan Reimold that ended up as a three-run homer.

"I felt fine," Rodon said. "I thought I threw well but sometimes things don't go your way, and you make a mistake like that late in the game, and you're going to pay for it against these big league hitters."

The White Sox (19-8) opened the series with Tuesday's 4-1 win. It was their third straight and gives them a shot at getting to 12 games over this fast for the first time since 2006 - the first 28 games after their World Series win.

"They bring it every day, which is great," Ventura said.

Abreu had his fifth straight two-hit game and is batting .448 with eight RBIs on a seven-game hitting streak.

Boston (15-11) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, though the Red Sox are 9-4 since last losing consecutive games. Their four-hit effort Tuesday was their worst of that span.