Twins Stay On A Roll As Blackburn Shuts Down White Sox

Quick. Efficient. Victorious.

Twins fans could get used to this.

While the Twins and White Sox were scheduled for roughly nine hours of baseball this week, it turns out that they played for just over four hours thanks to a rainout and two lightning-fast games.

Less than 24 hours after Carl Pavano sped through the White Sox lineup by tossing a complete game, Nick Blackburn produced a near carbon copy on Thursday. Blackburn went eight shutout innings for the Twins, scattering seven hits and a walk to out-duel White Sox ace Mark Buehrle.

Blackburn got into trouble a couple of times on the afternoon, but he was always able to scramble out of it. He allowed singles to Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski to start the second. Both runners advanced after Blackburn's throwing error trying to get a double play out of Alex Rios' line out. But Blackburn was able to get Adam Dunn and Gordon Beckham to end the threat.

In the sixth, Konerko appeared to hit into a inning-ending double play, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka bobbled it to keep the inning alive. (Nishioka was kept incredibly busy in his first game back from a broken leg; he had a ball hit to him in all nine innings.) But once again Blackburn got the next two hitters to avoid any damage.

In Blackburn's final inning, the White Sox got back-to-back 2-out singles, but he got Pierzynski to fly out. Twins closer Matt Capps came on in the ninth. Although Twins fans may have been thinking "here we go again" after Adam Dunn laced a 1-out single, Capps slammed the door by striking out the next two batters for the save and a 1-0 victory for Minnesota.

Michael Cuddyer supplied all the offense the Twins would need in the bottom of the second. He absolutely tattooed a Buehrle pitch for a 427-foot bomb to left center. As Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune pointed out during the game, Cuddyer had exactly zero homers or RBI on April 19. Since then, he has a team-leading 10 homers (good for first on the team) and 27 RBI (third).

Buehrle more or less shut down the Twins for the rest of the game, allowing only two singles, two walks, and a hit batter after Cuddyer's home run. Nishioka did tally his first-ever hit at Target Field with an infield single in the 8th inning off Sox reliever Matt Thornton.

The Twins still have a long way to go if they want to contend in 2011, but winning 11 out of 13 games with sparkling starting pitching is definitely a step in the right direction. And oh yeah--it looks like Joe Mauer might be back by the end of the week.

Twins Go For Sweep Of Sox In Nishioka's Return

Yoshi's back!

After missing 59 games with a broken fibula from a takeout slide by Nick Swisher, Tsuyoshi Nishioka will finally make his much-anticipated home debut for the Twins on Thursday. Nishioka was activated from the DL on Wednesday, but he's expected to start in the series finale against the White Sox.

With Tuesday's game rained out, Minnesota is looking to sweep a short series from their Chicago rivals for the second time in as many chances in 2011. But the Twins' dominance of the Sox stretches back much further--the Twins have won 13 of the last 15 games against Chicago.

Making it 14 out of 16 won't be easy--ace Mark Buehrle will get the start for Chicago. He has defeated Minnesota 25 times in his career, the most wins he has against any team.

Nick Blackburn (5-4, 3.47 ERA) will take the mound for the Twins. He's coming off a decent start against Texas where he got a no-decision after pitching 7 1/3 innings.

The Twins are still in the AL Central cellar, but they're playing their best baseball of the year thanks to some surprising sources. Alexi Casilla has been remarkable in the last few weeks, (I know; it felt just as weird to type as it did to read), and the much-maligned bullpen has been lights out as of late. After no Minnesota lead seemed to be safe during the first two months of the season, the bullpen has an ERA of 0.98 in the month of June. With Nishioka coming back Thursday and the return of other stars on the horizon, the Twins might just be able to hang around in a division that nobody seems to be running away with.

First pitch at Target Field is scheduled for 12:10 PM CT.

Pavano Powers Twins Past White Sox, 4-1

Minnesota Twins' right-hander Carl Pavano put together an outstanding performance on Wednesday night at Target Field, and his teammates generated enough offense to get the job done as they defeated the Chicago White Sox by a score of 4-1.

Pavano (4-5, 4.20 ERA) pitched a complete game, allowing just six Chicago hits and one earned run while striking out five. It was Pavano's second complete game in his last three starts, and the sixth consecutive start that has seen him go at least seven innings.

The Twins did most of their damage in the bottom of the fourth inning against White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (6-6, 3.94 ERA). After Drew Butera struck out to start the inning, Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla knocked consecutive doubles, with Casilla driving in Revere to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. After a walk to Michael Cuddyer, Casilla and Cuddyer stole third and second, respectively, and Delmon Young drove both of them in with a single to center field to make the score 3-0. The Twins were looking to do more damage after Luke Hughes reached on a bunt single, but Danny Valencia grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The White Sox got their lone run off of Pavano in the top of the sixth, when Gordon Beckham led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a base hit by Brent Morel to cut the Minnesota lead to 3-1. Pavano then got Juan Pierre to ground into a double play and retired Alexi Ramirez with a ground out to end the inning.

Minnesota got one last run in the bottom of the eighth inning after Cuddyer led the inning off with a single. After Delmon Young was retired on a fly ball to left, Cuddyer stole second base again while Luke Hughes was swinging and missing strike three. With two outs, Danny Valencia ripped a double to left-center and brought Cuddyer home to make the score 4-1.

Cuddyer wound up with three stolen bases in a game, the first Twin to accomplish that feat since Chuck Knoblauch did it against the Kansas City Royals in 1996.

The same two teams will finish up the series on Wednesday at Target Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:10 PM Central time. Left-hander Mark Buehrle (6-4, 3.95 ERA) will take the ball for Chicago, while righty Nick Blackburn (5-4, 3.47 ERA) will head to the hill for Minnesota.

Twins And White Sox Rained Out On Tuesday Night

Tuesday night's game between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox at Target Field was postponed due to rain, and no make-up date has been announced at this point in time. The Twins did say, however, that there would not be a double-header during the current series with the White Sox. It is the third postponement of a game at Target Field this season.

The rain started about an hour before the game's 7:10 PM Central start time, and the game was finally called at around 8 PM Central.

So, the series between the Twins and the White Sox is now. . .hopefully. . .a two-game set that will kick off on Wednesday night at Target Field. It appears that the pitching match-up for Wednesday night will be the same one that was scheduled for Tuesday night's game, with Minnesota right-hander Carl Pavano squaring off against Chicago right-hander Gavin Floyd.

White Sox At Twins: Minnesota Looks To Keep Positive Momentum Going

The Minnesota Twins are starting to come around, despite a largely Triple-A lineup, and have managed to climb back to within single digits in the American League Central race. On Tuesday night at Target Field. . .following their first day off in over two weeks. . .they will attempt to keep the hot streak going as they host their biggest rivals, the Chicago White Sox.

Minnesota has won 12 of their last 14 against Chicago, including two games at U.S. Cellular Field in May. One of those games was Francisco Liriano's no-hitter on May 3, and it looks like the White Sox will be fortunate enough to miss Liriano this time around.

To start this series, Minnesota will turn to right-hander Carl Pavano (3-5, 4.54 ERA). Pavano has been pitching pretty well as of late, allowing just three earned runs over sixteen innings in his last two starts, a victory over Kansas City and a no-decision against Cleveland.

The White Sox will counter with right-hander Gavin Floyd (6-5, 3.89 ERA). The White Sox have lost three of Floyd's last four starts, including his last one on Wednesday, where he allowed three runs on five hits and threw 110 pitches in just six innings in a game that the White Sox lost to the Seattle Mariners, 7-4.

First pitch from Target Field on Tuesday night is scheduled for 7:10 PM Central time. You can head on over to Twinkie Town's world-famous Game Thread to talk about all of the in-game excitement, and then make sure to come back here for your recap when it's over.