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CHICAGO(AP) Nobody is debating who the
White Sox
ace is.
Mark Buehrle
pitched seven solid innings and
Paul Konerko
hit a two-run homer to help Chicago snap a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the
Minnesota Twins
on Tuesday night.
Jermaine Dye
homered and
Jim Thome
added a two-run double in the seventh for the
White Sox
, who won for just the fourth time in 16 games.
Buehrle (6-1) added to his solid season, allowing two runs and scattering eight hits. He had four strikeouts and did not issue
a walk. The
White Sox
are 7-1 in his starts compared with 9-21 when he doesn't pitch.
''Mark did a great job. He's been the stopper as of late for us. He is a true No. 1 for us and he came out today and stopped
the bleeding that's been going on and it was all around a great effort,'' Dye said.
The Twins came to Chicago after getting swept by the
New York Yankees
in a four-game series. To make matters worse, they had to face Buehrle, now 23-13 lifetime against Minnesota.
''I owned them,'' Buehrle joked. ''Obviously, we face them a lot of times. It seems like it goes back and forth. ... Obviously
I'm on one of those stretches now. Tonight was one of those games where I probably missed more spots tonight than I have in
a lot of starts and I got lucky with them.''
After finishing a dismal road trip with one win, the
White Sox
rebounded with a three-run first inning off Twins starter
Scott Baker
. Thome led off with a single, then Konerko connected on a 2-0 pitch for his fifth homer of the season. With runners on first
and second,
Alexei Ramirez
, who was in a 2-for-14 slump, hit an RBI double to right-center.
Dye tagged Baker with a solo shot in the fifth inning, his ninth of the season.
Joe Mauer
homered for the Twins, who have lost five straight and are 4-13 on the road. Minnesota manager
Ron Gardenhire
held a team meeting after the game.
''A little frustrating right now. We had a little meeting after the game and talked about trying to invent the game. They're
coming up with things. We're trying to invent stuff. You can't just do that in a game. You have to play the game,'' Gardenhire
said. ''It's getting a little quiet on the bench and that's not acceptable. We're all about nine innings and getting after
it. So we had a little bit of a talk about that.''
Baker (1-5) allowed four runs and five hits in five innings.
''It's hard to pitch deep in the ballgame when you have an inning like that,'' he said. ''I don't think it's any secret that
it was a battle tonight.''
Mauer extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a home run in the sixth.
With runners on first and third and one out in the seventh,
Nick Punto
hit a sacrifice fly to Dye in right. Konerko conceded the run and cut off Dye's throw, firing to second to get
Mike Redmond
.
With the
White Sox
leading 4-2 in the seventh, Thome gave Buehrle some insurance with a two-run double off reliever
Sean Henn
, who had his contract purchased from Triple-A Rochester before the game.
Thome has 10 hits in his last 22 at-bats.
Notes: Twins OF
Delmon Young
will be out until at least Friday after his mother died Monday following a bout with cancer. Young left the team last Friday
before the start of a four-game series at the
New York Yankees
to attend to his mother, Bonnie, and was placed on the family medical emergency list. Gardenhire said Tuesday that Young will
miss the three-game series against Chicago and won't be back until Friday at the earliest. Services are planned later in the
week in Vicksburg, Miss.
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