White Sox 3 - 4 Twins
Final
  for this game

White Sox aim for four-game sweep of Twins

Jul 27, 2014 - 2:19 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - It was another dominating performance by Chris Sale on Saturday for the Chicago White Sox in their 7-0 blanking of the Minnesota Twins and now the visitors try to complete the four-game sweep of the Twins at Target Field this afternoon.

As a team, Chicago is far from a threat in the American League Central at the moment, still eight games out of first and three games below .500, but don't tell that to Sale who moved to 10-1 on the campaign with yet another stellar performance on Saturday.

Sale, who finished last season with a mark of just 11-14, has been off the charts in 2014, sporting an ERA of just 1.88 over 16 games. Yesterday the left-hander allowed a mere five hits and walked two, striking out 12, over the course of eight innings before giving way to Daniel Webb.

"This team is very voracious in the desire to keep winning, and to keep getting better," said Sale after registering his 15th career start with at least 10 strikeouts. "I think we've shown that on a nightly basis coming in here and working hard, and just never giving up. When things aren't really going our way, we're still playing and we still come to win."

Offensively, Alexei Ramirez and Tyler Flowers both knocked in a pair of runs, the former connecting on his 10th home run of the season. Conor Gillaspie accounted for three of his team's 14 hits and scored twice.

The Chicago lineup knocked around Minnesota starter Logan Darnell, putting up all seven runs on 10 hits in just five innings. Darnell did manage to fan seven, but still saw his ERA soar to 7.88 upon exiting.

"It's not really how you picture it," Darnell said. "I started off early really good, but later in the game the aggressiveness that I knew was going to come happened and I didn't make good enough pitches with two strikes."

The Twins, occupying the AL Central basement, produced only six hits, two of those coming from Trevor Plouffe.

Rookie right-hander Scott Carroll will make his way to the mound for the White Sox this afternoon, seeking to inch closer to .500 on the season.

Carroll's last outing took place on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals as he gave up five runs on 11 hits, the second time in the last four outings that he's allowed double-digit hits. The youngster walked two and struck out three over s span of five innings.

The Kansas City native faced off against the Twins last month at Target Field, giving up only two hits ion 3 2/3 innings of a 4-3 setback.

Countering for the Twins will be rookie Yohan Pino, heading to the hill for just his seventh major league appearance. Earlier this week the undrafted right-hander went up against the Cleveland Indians at home and ended up suffering the loss, his third of the season.

Pino allowed four runs on seven hits, striking out five over 6 1/3 innings.

The major league debut for Pino took place last month against this same Chicago squad, but he failed to earn a decision even though the final result was a 4-2 victory for Minnesota. Pino made it through seven innings, striking out seven and allowing just two runs on five hits and a walk in the decision.






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