When the Minnesota Twins take on the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday afternoon, they will be attempting to do something that they haven't done for 45 years. . .defeat the White Sox ten consecutive times. Minnesota's 8-5 victory on Friday night was their ninth straight over Chicago dating back to last season.
The last time the Twins beat the White Sox ten consecutive times was during a stretch that also spanned two seasons, from September 8, 1965 to June 12, 1966. Minnesota has won 28 of the last 34 meetings between these two teams overall. Chicago jumped out to a 5-1 first-inning lead on Friday night, but the Twins stormed back for the victory, putting up six runs in the top of the fourth for the victory. The rally was capped by a huge three-run blast by Luke Hughes.
The White Sox will send southpaw Mark Buehrle (6-5, 3.66 ERA) to the mound in hopes of ending their losing streak to the Twins. The White Sox have won each of Beuhrle's last three starts, but he has failed to be a part of the decision in any of them. In his last start, he allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings against the Kansas City Royals, and the White Sox wound up winning 5-4. He has started against the Twins once this season, allowing just one run on three hits in seven innings, but it wasn't quite good enough as the Twins won the ball game 1-0 back on June 16 at Target Field.
The Twins will go with left-hander Brian Duensing (6-7, 4.25 ERA) in this one. Duensing has not faced the White Sox yet this season. The Twins hope that Duensing can duplicate the kind of output he generated in his last start, as he was brilliant in a complete game shutout of the Tampa Bay Rays on the Fourth of July. In his nine innings of work, Duensing allowed six hits (and walked four) while striking out seven in Minnesota's 7-0 victory.
First pitch for this one is scheduled for 3:10 PM Central time at U.S. Cellular Field, and the folks over at Twinkie Town will be watching all of the action. Be sure to jump into the Game Thread to talk about all of it with your fellow Twins fans, and check out our recap when the action in Chicago has been completed.