What had been billed in some circles as a marquee pitching match-up between Minnesota’s Andrew Albers and Chicago’s Chris Sale turned out to be a hitters night as the White Sox beat the Twins 8-5 at Target Field Saturday.
Going into the game, both lefties had pitching streaks of more than 15 scoreless innings, but that fell apart quickly. While both Albers and Sale went into seven innings, both gave up runs early as the Twins never quite caught up to the Whities.
Still, All-Star Sale was solid, striking out eight and picking up the win with three runs to earn his 9th win of the season. Albers gave up five runs on eight hits.
Dayan Viciedo clubbed a three-run homer for Chicago in the fourth. Chicago reliever Nate Jones served up a two-run blast to Ryan Doumit in the eighth to bring the Twins within 6-5, but Alejandro De Aza clubbed a two-run shot of his own in the ninth to restore Chicago’s three-run cushion.
Joe Mauer and Doumit each had 2 RBI for the Twins, and Josh Willingham had one on a pair of doubles, but he also lost a routine fly in the lights.
Minnesota has lost four of five, including two to Chicago. Twins will try to split the series in finale Sunday afternoon at Target field.
