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CHICAGO (AP) -
Ozzie Guillen
has seen
Mark Buehrle
win 70 games over the past five years, throw a no-hitter and lead the
Chicago White Sox
to a World Series championship.
One would think he already knew the answer when Guillen walked to the mound to take Buehrle out Sunday, and asked his off-speed
magician to spill his secret.
''He was just asking me how I do it,'' Buehrle said. ''He said, 'I look up there in the first inning and I see a pitch 78
miles an hour. I don't know how you get guys out.'''
Whatever he does, it works.
Jim Thome
hit a two-run homer to break open a pitcher's duel, Buehrle was dominant into the seventh inning and the
White Sox
beat the
Minnesota Twins
6-1 on Sunday.
Carlos Quentin
singled off
Nick Blackburn
in the sixth before Thome hit his second homer of the season, snapping a 1-1 tie. Thome also hit a three-run shot in the season
opener to help the
White Sox
beat Kansas City.
''It's nice to contribute,'' said Thome, who has only four hits in 19 at-bats. ''I'm trying to have good at-bats, but sometimes
that's not happening. We'll work to get better on this road trip.''
Jermaine Dye
added a homer in the eighth for the
White Sox
, who scored in each of the last four innings to split a season-opening six-game homestand. Chicago, which outscored the Twins
14-1 the last two games, now heads on a 10-game road trip.
''It's all about confidence,'' Guillen said. ''I've got guys, they're all veteran players and they know what they're doing.
They're not going to panic.''
Buehrle (1-0) gave up a solo home run to
Delmon Young
in the second and then retired 15 straight batters before being pulled with one in the seventh. He gave up two hits and struck
out five without a walk.
Nick Punto
got the Twins' next hit, a two-out single in the eighth.
''I keep telling guys velocity is not important, it's all about movement,'' Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. ''Today he really
bought in. He made one mistake and other than that, he was pretty darn good.''
Buehrle doesn't post a lot of strikeouts, so even getting halfway to double digits elicited a joke from the easygoing 30-year-old.
''I'm a strikeout pitcher now,'' he said. ''What did I have, five?''
Blackburn (0-1) was pulled after giving up a single to
Alexei Ramirez
to start the seventh. He allowed four runs - three earned - on six hits, walking one and striking out one. He has lost his
last two starts in Chicago, including last year's one-game playoff for the division title.
Thome said he guessing that Blackburn would try to get him out on a ''front-door'' sinker after striking him out with that
pitch in the fourth.
''It came over the plate a little bit,'' Blackburn said. ''Anybody else in their lineup wouldn't put that up there. The guy
is strong. He'd had a good at-bat. I tried to come inside and didn't get it far enough inside.''
The Twins committed three errors and managed only five hits - two of them off reliever
Clayton Richard
in the ninth - in another poor performance in Chicago. They've lost seven of their last eight games at U.S. Cellular Field.
''It was an ugly baseball game by us,'' Twins manager
Ron Gardenhire
said. ''Blacky threw the ball very well for us. We missed the ball, which is not the way we do things. We didn't play good
defense and offensively we just didn't have a lot of good at-bats.''
Minnesota threatened in the ninth, loading the bases against Richard.
Bobby Jenks
came in to strike out former teammate
Joe Crede
, then got Young to hit into a double play for his second save.
''I love Joe,'' Pierzynski said. ''I'll never say a bad word about Joe and I wish him the best, but obviously we're playing
him and we're trying to get him out. It's fun though.''
The
White Sox
tied it in the bottom of the fifth on an error by
Michael Cuddyer
.
Paul Konerko
singled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a two-out single by Dewayne Wise. Cuddyer then booted a sharply hit grounder
by
Chris Getz
and threw wildly to first, allowing Konerko to score. Cuddyer was charged with two errors on the play.
After Thome's shot in the sixth, the
White Sox
added on in the seventh.
Ramirez got on base with a single,
Craig Breslow
hit Getz, and
Josh Fields
scored Ramirez with a single before Quentin drove in pinch-runner
Brent Lillibridge
with a sacrifice fly.
Notes: Getz left after getting a hit. He has a contusion on his right triceps and is day-to-day. ... Wise, who started the
season in an 0-for-12 slump, was the only
White Sox
hitter to have a multi-hit game, with two singles. He's 4-for-7 over his last two starts. ... Getz reached twice without getting
a hit from the leadoff spot. Getz has the only hit in that spot through six games. ... Twins 3B Crede will get a rest or serve
as DH soon, Twins manager
Ron Gardenhire
said. Crede missed most of the second half last season with back problems. ... Young's homer, his first of the season, was
measured at 398 feet. ... Fields has reached base in every game.
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