Twins 6, White Sox 5: Danks struggles as Sox get swept

The Minnesota Twins completed the four-game sweep of the White Sox on Sunday afternoon with a 6-5 victory, dropping the White Sox to a season-low six games below .500.

Minnesota started off the scoring early after back-to-back walks to Danny Santana and Brian Dozier to start the game. A Joe Mauer fly out moved Santana to third and a wild pitch moved Dozier into second to bring up Josh Willingham. Willingham grounded to Alexei Ramirez who fired to third to get Dozier, but Santana scored to give the Twins the early 1-0 lead.

The Twins dropped two more runs on the Sox in the second. Kurt Suzuki led off with a double. Eduardo Escobar singled to center, but Adam Eaton gunned down Suzuki trying to score for the first out. Escobar took second on the play and came around to score when Sam Fuld followed with a double. A Joe Mauer single would cash in Fuld to push the Twins lead to 3-0.

The White Sox came roaring back in the top of the third. Moises Sierra led off with a single to center and Alejandro De Aza singled to right. Tyler Flowers followed with a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Adam Eaton struck out, but Gordon Beckham hit the wall in left to bring home Sierra and De Aza. Jose Abreu followed with a single which brought home Flowers and Beckham and gave the Sox a 4-3 lead. Abreu took second on the throw to the plate. After Adam Dunn struck out, Ramirez hit a swinging bunt down the third base line that he beat out and Conor Gillaspie brought home Abreu with a duck snort into left. The Sox scored five times and batted around in the inning.

Unfortunately, Danks gave it all back in the bottom of the fourth. Fuld reached with a one-out walk. Santana followed with an infield single. Dozier singled to center to bring home Fuld and Mauer singled to score Santana to tie the game at five. Josh Willingham's sacrifice fly to left gave Minnesota the 6-5 lead.

Gordon Beckham led off the fifth with a ground ball to short, but Santana flung it into the dugout allowing Beckham to take second. And that is when the offense died. The Sox were shutdown the rest of the way without a baserunner. Anthony Swarzak threw two perfect innings, Casey Fien threw one and Jared Burton closed it out for his first save.

The Sox bullpen kept up the pace, as Jake Petricka, Scott Downs and Zach Putnam did not allow a run but the offense couldn't take advantage of the strong bullpen work.

Box| Record: 35-41