Minnesota holds on to beat Chicago 3-2
CHICAGO (AP) - Nick Blackburn earned his first win in a month, Jason Kubel had a pair of RBIs and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 Wednesday to sweep a brief two-game series behind some outstanding pitching.
Minnesota won the opener Tuesday night 1-0 when Francisco Liriano held the punchless and reeling White Sox hitless. Last-place Chicago has now lost 17 of 21 as it heads to the West Coast for a nine-game road trip.
Blackburn (2-4) followed up Liriano's gem by holding the White Sox to four hits and a run in 6 2/3 innings, including Alex Rios' solo homer in the third that tied the game at 1-1.
John Danks (0-5), a 15-game winner a year ago, gave up eight hits and three runs over eight innings for Chicago in taking yet another loss with little run support.
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Minnesota forged ahead with two runs in the sixth inning.
Denard Span singled and Matt Tolbert reached on a bunt single when Chicago second baseman Omar Vizquel didn't cover first after third baseman Mark Teahen fielded the ball. Span moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Kubel's sacrifice fly, and after Michael Cuddyer was walked intentionally, Rene Tosoni delivered an RBI single to make it 3-1.
Chicago got an unearned run in the eighth when Alexei Ramirez hit a one-out double off Glen Perkins and moved to third on a passed ball before Adam Dunn walked. Matt Capps relieved and gave up Paul Konerko's sacrifice fly before retiring Carlos Quentin on a pop.
Capps gave up a single and hit a batter in the ninth before retiring Juan Pierre on a fly ball to end the game and get his fifth save in six chances.
The Twins struck with a first-inning run when Span walked, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and Kubel hit a two-out RBI single.
Blackburn opened with a win in his first start of the season April 3 and was winless in four starts since. In his last outing, he gave up eight hits and five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Notes: Kubel, who homered Tuesday night for the only run, has 69 RBIs in 72 games against the White Sox. ... Drew Butera's fifth-inning hit snapped an 0-for-22 skid. ... Rios had three hits for Chicago, which is 1-9 in its last 10 home games. ... The game time was 2 hours, 30 minutes, or 21 minutes longer than Tuesday night.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)