It might be the start of something big. Then again, it might not be. But for a couple of days, it felt pretty good to be a member of. . .or even a fan of. . .the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins got their second consecutive solid pitching performance, as Nick Blackburn scattered four hits and pitched into the seventh inning as the Twins completed a two-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Jason Kubel, last night's offensive hero, got things started for the Twins in the top of the first, as his opposite-field single scored Denard Span to give the Twins a quick 1-0 lead. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the third, when Blackburn made his one mistake of the afternoon, allowing Alex Rios to launch one over the left-field fence to lead off the inning, tying the score at one.
The Twins took the lead back in the top of the sixth inning, when Span led off with a single and Matt Tolbert, while attempting to sacrifice, wound up with an infield single. Justin Morneau then flew out to right field, and both Span and Tolbert moved up 90 feet. Kubel then hit a sacrifice fly to score Span, giving the Twins a 2-1 lead. After White Sox starter John Danks intentionally walked Michael Cuddyer, rookie Rene Tosoni made Chicago pay with a single to center to score Tolbert and make the score 3-1.
The White Sox got a run back in the bottom of the eighth on Paul Konerko's sacrifice fly, but they would get no closer. Matt Capps came in to pitch the ninth, and even though the Sox got a runner to second base, Capps got Omar Vizquel and Juan Pierre to fly out to right field in consecutive at-bats to end the ball game, giving him his fifth save in six chances this season.
Blackburn got the victory, raising his record to 2-4 and snapping his personal four-game losing streak. Danks took the loss, falling to 0-5 on the year.
The Twins will take Thursday off so that they can travel to Boston to play a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park this weekend. Friday night's pitching match-up, as of now, will see the Twins send Scott Baker (1-2, 3.16 ERA) to the hill, while the Red Sox will counter with Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-2, 3.81). First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 6:10 PM Central time.