Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Joe Mauer's RBI double in the bottom of the eighth propelled the Minnesota Twins to a 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a four-game set.
Danny Santana singled to open the eighth off Jake Petricka (0-2) and Brian Dozier followed by chopping a single to right that put runners at the corners. Mauer then slapped an RBI double down the left-field line that plated Santana and gave Minnesota the lead.
Kendrys Morales was intentionally walked to load the bases following a strikeout of Josh Willingham and Kurt Suzuki added another run on a sacrifice fly to center.
Casey Fien (4-4) earned the win for pitching a scoreless eighth and Glen Perkins tossed the ninth to capture his 18th save of the season.
Mauer finished with two RBI and Willingham homered to help the Twins snap a five-game losing streak.
Minnesota starter Yohan Pino made his major-league debut after spending the past 10 years in the minors. Pino went seven innings and yielded two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in the no-decision.
"(Pino) went out there and did a great job for us," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "Happy to win the ball game."
Jose Quintana opposed Pino and was up to the task, allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts over seven innings of work.
"That was wonderful to watch," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura, praising Quintana. "He changed speeds, mixed it up. His fastball looks a lot harder when he's using the curveball, the slider and the changeup. He has deception."
Conor Gillaspie had the two RBI for Chicago, which had its two-game winning streak halted.
Willingham crushed a homer into the second deck in left to open the scoring in the second and give the Twins a 1-0 advantage.
Alejandro De Aza and Adam Eaton singled around a Tyler Flowers pop out in the third, and Gordon Beckham walked to load the bases. Gillaspie punched a single right back up the box that plated a pair to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.
Minnesota tied it up in the home half of the third with an RBI single from Mauer that scored Santana, who doubled with one out.
Game Notes
The start of the game was delayed 2 hours and 6 minutes ... Chicago opened an 11-game road trip on Thursday, its longest trip since April 18-28, 2011 ... Chicago went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, while Minnesota went 2-for-9 in those instances.
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