White Sox 12, Twins 5: 21 hits in the rubber match

Hawk still loves the Twins despite them being terrible. He can't help himself.

"The Twins don't beat themselves," he said in the third inning, after an error by Minnesota allowed the Sox to score a run in the second inning, and almost immediately after Ryan Doumit was caught in no-man's land between second and third base when A.J. Pierzynski fumbled a pitch. Pierzynski put him in a pickle and erased his lead-off double after a rundown.

Fine, Hawk, I guess they didn't beat themselves today, because even though the Twins hurt themselves early, the Sox piled on and pasted them.

Up 2-0 in the fifth, Alejandro De Aza singled up the middle with two outs. His teammates then jumped all over Nick Blackburn for a two out rally. Kevin Youkilis grounded one up the middle for a hit. Adam Dunn mashed one off the facade of the second deck in left center for a three-run homer. Two pitches later, Alex Rios hit one to almost the same spot for a back-to-back jack, a 6-0 lead and a friendly visit to the mound by Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson. Blackburn got out of the inning.

Minnesota got a run back when Brian Dozier homered in the bottom of the frame.

The White Sox piranhas nibbled away at Twins reliever Jeff Manship for five hits (all singles) in the sixth inning, leading to three more runs. They benefited from a hit-and-run where Orlando Hudson dribbled one through the hole vacated by Jamey Carroll at second base, and a fielder's choice by Eduardo Escobar that probably should have been a double play. Good hustle down the line and a bobble by the Twins only let them record one out on the play.

The Twins got one back again in the sixth on a sac fly by Ben Revere, but overall, Chris Sale was dominant. He made short work of the home club every inning, compiling five strikeouts, walking just one, and allowing five hits. He limited the Twins to two earned runs over seven innings of work.

The condor is 9-2 on the season with a 2.27 ERA and 0.97 WHIP.

Will Ohman came in for mop-up duty in the eighth and ninth. He gave up a two-run homer to Darin Mastroianni in the eighth. He plunked both Trevor Plouffe and Ryan Doumit in the ninth and surrendered another run before Carroll grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game. This was apparently the last straw, as he was DFA'd after the game.

Pierzynski had a great at-bat to lead off the seventh. With an 0-2 count he fouled off eight pitches before taking the 10th offering 405 feet to straightaway center, bouncing off the very top of the fence. Another couple inches and it's a home run, but instead he was on third for his third triple of the season. Jordan Danks singled to drive him home, making it 10-2 Sox.

Adam Dunn had an infield single to load the bases in the eighth inning. The Sox plated two more runs for a 12-2 lead.

An AJ triple and infield single from Dunn in the same game... needless to say, everything was going right for the White Sox offense against these last-place Twins this afternoon. Every Sox batter had a base hit, and even Tyler Flowers was 1-1 after coming in to give Youkilis a rest at first base. Every starter but Pierzynski and Ramirez had multiple hits, but even Alexei reached twice via an error.

DeAza 3-6, R, RBI

Escobar 2-6, 3 R

Youkilis 3-4, R, 2 RBI

Dunn 3-5, HR, R, 4 RBI

Rios 3-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI

AJ 1-4, R, RBI

Alexei 1-4, R

Danks 2-5, RBI

Hudson 2-5, R

Record: 40-35 | Box score | Play-by-play