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.