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 The second time was a different story.
Powered by a grand slam by third baseman Trevor Plouffe, the Twins
scored seven runs in the third inning and pounded out 19 hits in all
for a 13-3 win at Target Field on Sunday.
The win gave the Twins a four-game sweep of the White Sox (8-14),
who have now lost five consecutive games.
Minnesota (13-12), which climbed over .500 after a 1-6 start to the
season, has won seven of its past nine games overall and is now 3
1/2 games clear of Chicago in the American League Central Division
standings.
After back-to-back singles to start the third inning, designated
hitter Joe Mauer reached on an error by Danks to load the bases with
nobody out. Plouffe followed with a 408-foot blast over the
left-field fence for his first career grand slam.
"(Danks) got me in my first at-bat on a backdoor cutter," Plouffe
said. "So I was staying out over the plate. I thought he might come
back with that cutter, so I tried to stay inside that pitch. He
threw the changeup and I was able to keep my hands back."
Minnesota tacked on three more runs in the inning on a two-run
single by shortstop Danny Santana and an RBI single by second
baseman Brian Dozier.
It was the second seven-run inning of the series for the Twins, who
also did it against Chris Sale on Thursday in a 12-2 win.
"It was a nice outburst," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "It was
one of those games that we hit a lot of balls really well. The ball
was bouncing our way and when it's bouncing your way, good things
usually happen and that happened for us today."
Danks allowed seven runs, three of them earned, on eight hits over 2
1/3 innings, falling to 1-3. He also hit a batter, threw a wild
pitch and committed two errors in the field.
"Pretty awful," Danks said. "I set the tone; I didn't give us a
chance to win from the start. Falls all on me."
White Sox manager Robin Ventura said, "He didn't pitch very well and
he field his position. It was all over the place. Early on it looked
alright, then they jumped on him."
The White Sox had a bases-loaded opportunity of their own in the
next half inning, scoring twice when consecutive batters were hit by
pitches. Twins right-hander Mike Pelfrey hit three Chicago batters
in all in the fourth inning and was lifted after lasting only 3 1/3
innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a pair of walks.
"My stuff, I didn't think was good," Pelfrey said. "I'm mad I had to
come out of the game. Given a 7-0 lead and I couldn't hold it. But I
don't think I left (Molitor) a choice; walking a guy, hitting three
guys. Not too good on my part, I lost it there and it was pretty
embarrassing. We won, so at the end of the day, I'll move on and get
ready for the next one."
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Right-hander Ryan Pressly entered for Pelfrey and worked out of the
jam allowing no more runs to score. Pressly pitched 2 2/3 perfect
innings in all, striking out three and earning the victory (1-0).
Minnesota added four runs in the fourth inning on RBI singles by
Plouffe, left fielder Oswaldo Arcia and catcher Chris Herrmann.
Jordan Schafer scored on a throwing error by White Sox catcher
Geovany Soto.
Twins first baseman Kennys Vargas added a solo homer, and right
fielder Torii Hunter an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Chicago committed a season-high four errors contributing to seven
unearned runs for Minnesota.
"It's a bad week, there's no way around it, we played bad baseball,"
Ventura said. "They were swinging it and doing everything; I don't
think there was anything we were good at today. We just have to
check ourselves and get back after it."
Dozier finished with a career-high four hits, including a triple,
and reached base five times. He also scored a run and knocked in
another.
Plouffe had three hits and a career-high five RBIs.
"I think everyone is please that after what happened at the
beginning (of the season), we've been able to turn this around and
win some games," Molitor said. "You gotta get greedy when things are
going well. You have to try and ride these things out as long as you
possibly can."
NOTES: White Sox OF Adam Eaton was sent back to Chicago with an
illness. Eaton has missed the past three games with the ailment. ...
The White Sox signed OF Tyler Colvin and assigned him to Triple-A
Charlotte. ... OF Jared Mitchell was released. ... Twins C Kurt
Suzuki was given the day off. C Chris Herrmann was in the lineup in
his place. ... The White Sox are off Monday before opening a
three-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday at U.S.
Cellular Field. ... The Twins open a four-game series against the
Oakland Athletics on Monday at Target Field.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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