Oswaldo Arcia laced a go-ahead homer in the top of the 10th inning to help the Minnesota Twins sweep a day/night doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox with a 3-2 win in Friday’s nightcap at U.S. Cellular Field.
‘Twas indeed a hard day’s night for the Twins, with a couple of well-earned victories, both notched by reliever Brian Duensing, in 19 innings of baseball in a day.
Justin Morneau had two home runs, including the go-ahead grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, in the opener of a four-game series Friday afternoon.
Duensing got the final out in the sixth to pick up the win. Starter Kyle Gibson gave up three runs on four hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings in the afternoon.
The first game was a slugfest, with six home-runs; Oswaldo Arcia and Chris Colabello each added one to Morneau’s two. Alexei Ramirez and Paul Konerko went yard for the White Sox.
Aside from the game-winner from Arcia in the night game, there were four other homers that tallied all of the scoring in the 3-2 Minnesota win. Josh Willingham, just off the DL, homered, as did Chris Herrmann for the Twins. Ramirez hit another one for Chicago and Blake Tekotte tallied his first career homer for the White Sox.
Brian Duensing (6-1), the winning pitcher in the opener of the twinbill, also earned the victory in the nightcap after spinning a 1-2-3 ninth. Glen Perkins stranded a runner on third in the 10th to secure his 28th save of the season.
Whew! That’s a lot of baseball. More Saturday from Chi-Town.
