White Sox 3, Twins 2: Alejandro De Aza smacked a line drive off pitcher Scott Diamond's leg to drive in the go-ahead run in the eighth and Jake Peavy threw eight strong innings as visiting Chicago scored late for the second straight game to claim the series from division rival Minnesota.
The White Sox, who entered the day with a 2 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the American League Central, clinched their seventh straight series win against Minnesota. They have won nine of 12 meetings this season.
The Twins rallied with two outs in the ninth to move the tying and winning runs into scoring position. But Addison Reed got a fly ball from Brian Dozier to pick up his 18th save and seal the win for Peavy (9-7), who allowed two runs - one earned - on five hits and struck out eight to beat the Twins for the second time in eight days.
Both teams scored a run in the first and Danny Valencia gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead in the second with his first homer since April 23 before both starters settled in for a low-scoring battle. The White Sox tied it on Tyler Flowers' RBI groundout in the fifth and took the lead on De Aza's comebacker, which was his third hit of the day and seventh of the series.
Coming off the first complete game and shutout of his career, Diamond (9-5) gave up three runs on eight hits over 7 1/3 innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota OF Ben Revere extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games with a double in the first. … Twins OF Denard Span extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the eighth. … Chicago 3B Kevin Youkilis snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a single leading off the fourth. … Peavy has gone at least six innings in 20 of 21 starts this season.
Chi. White Sox | Minnesota | |
Jake Peavy | Player | Scott Diamond |
Win | W/L | Loss |
8.0 | IP | 7.1 |
8 | Strikeouts | 3 |
5 | Hits | 8 |
1.12 | ERA | 3.68 |
Chi. White Sox | Minnesota | |
Alejandro De Aza | Player | Ben Revere |
3 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 3 |
.750 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. White Sox | 9 | 0 | 10 | .273 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Minnesota | 6 | 1 | 11 | .188 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 |