Dunn, White Sox thrash Twins
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Adam Dunn smoked a three-run home run and added an RBI single on Wednesday as the Chicago White Sox pounded out 21 hits en route to a 12-5 thrashing of the Minnesota Twins in the rubber match of a three-game series at Target Field.
Kevin Youkilis went 3-for-4 and collected his first two RBI in a White Sox uniform, while Alex Rios crushed a solo homer and added an RBI base hit for Chicago, which has won four of their last five contests. Alejandro De Aza contributed three hits, including an RBI single in the victory.
"The last couple of weeks, I haven't felt real good at the plate," Dunn said. "Yesterday I started feeling a little better and today I felt good, so hopefully it continues."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chris Sale (9-2) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk to go with five strikeouts over seven innings to earn the win. Will Ohman tossed the final two frames to close it out for the White Sox.
Darin Mastroianni ripped a two-run homer and Brian Dozier added a solo blast for the Twins, who dropped the final two games of this series.
Nick Blackburn (4-5) suffered the loss after giving up six runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and no walks in five full frames.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The White Sox grabbed the early lead in the second inning and never let it go thanks to a defensive miscue by the Twins. Rios led off the frame with a double off the left field wall and advanced to third on a fly out to right. With the Twins' infield drawn in, Alexei Ramirez smacked a grounder right to Dozier at shortstop, but the ball skipped through his legs, allowing Rios to score.
Eduardo Escobar started the ChiSox third with a base hit up the middle and scored when Youkilis ripped one off the wall in right field for a double, extending the lead to 2-0.
The White Sox broke the game open with four runs in the fifth to widen the lead to 6-0. De Aza laced a one-out single and Youkilis followed with a base hit two batters later before Dunn reached for a pitch out of the zone and sent it the other way off the facing of second deck for a three-run homer, his 24th of the season. Rios followed with a solo shot over the wall in left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dozier got the Twins on the board in the home half with a solo shot to left, but the White Sox kept hitting and added three more runs in the sixth to push the lead to 9-1. De Aza, Youkilis and Dunn all had RBI base hits in the frame.
Ben Revere pulled the Twins to within 9-2 with a sacrifice fly in the home sixth, but Jordan Danks got the run right back for Chicago in the seventh with an RBI single.
The Sox extended the lead to 12-2 in the eighth courtesy of an RBI base hit from Rios and a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pierzysnki before Mastroianni got both runs back in the home portion with a two-run blast into the left field seats.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I won't forget that one," Mastroianni said of his first career home run. "It was a pretty cool feeling. It just kind of came off the bat. I was shocked to see it come off the bat that hard. I didn't know it was gone until I rounded first base."
Game Notes
The White Sox have won eight of their last 10 games at Target Field...The White Sox won their third consecutive series in Minnesota for the first time since the 2005 campaign...Chicago improved to 11-13 in June...It was Danks' first career RBI...The Twins fell to 14-24 at home this season and 6-6 in games played on Wednesday...Chicago finished 7-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base.