The White Sox avoided a winless series in Houston by taking the fourth game. Without a fourth game in Minnesota, they left Target Field as the victims of a plain ol' sweep.
The essentials:
*John Danks gave up four home runs over five innings -- to the 7-8-9-1 hitters, too. Perhaps the worst one was a solo shot on a 1-2 count to lefty Clete Thomas for his first homer of the year, although , giving up a second-decker to Eduardo Escobar stings, too.
*It was another ragged defensive effort behind him, with Gordon Beckham committing an error for the third gave in a row. That came around to score when Brian Dozier homered for the second straight game.
*Dayan Viciedo did save a run when he cut down Ryan Doumit at the plate on an incredible throw.
*Ramirez had a four-hit game, but was 1-for-2 stealing bases. The tags beat him both times, but the out that stuck hurt. The Sox narrowed the lead to 3-1 behind him on a single, walk, infield single, and an error by Trevor Plouffe. He threw wide after snagging Jeff Keppinger's grounder, one of the trademark ways the Sox score without inspiring any faith (or RBI).
*The Sox mounted a rally in the sixth when Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer, and Adam Dunn made it a back-to-back affair. That cut the lead to 6-4.
*The defense gave those runs right back. Dayan Viciedo couldn't run down a deep drive by Joe Mauer, which was scored a double. Then Ramirez got eaten up by a spinner, and both those runners came around to score on a two-out single.
*That run scored on Matt Lindstrom's watch, and even though it was unearned, it still snapped his streak of 14 consecutive scoreless appearances.
*But everything's still going great for Jesse Crain, though. He gave up an infield single to Oswaldo Arcia, but Hector Gimenez cut him down with a throw for the second out. Crain ended up pitching a scoreless seventh for his 28th consecutive scoreless outing, a new White Sox franchise record.
Record: 29-41 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights