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May 7, 2016 - 4:56 AM Chris Sale has been able to do enough to lead the Chicago White Sox to victory even when he's not at his best.

That hasn't been the case when he's faced the Minnesota Twins recently.

He'll take the hill Saturday night looking to help Chicago beat visiting Minnesota for the fifth straight time this season.

Sale (6-0, 1.66 ERA) is coming off the shortest of his six outings after allowing one run but walking four in 5 1/3 innings of Sunday's 7-1 win at Baltimore. He threw 112 pitches after going at least seven innings in each start.

''They worked him over a little bit,'' manager Robin Ventura said of Sale, who's the first White Sox pitcher to win his first six starts since Jon Garland began 8-0 in 2005. ''He wasn't as sharp as he's been, but even then he didn't give up anything.''

For all of the left-hander's success, the Twins have ate him up. Sale is 0-4 with an 8.67 ERA and a .457 average against on balls in play in his last five outings against them.

Brian Dozier has gone deep three times against Sale, but he didn't start Friday because of a sore hamstring and his status is unclear.

"We talked a lot about it," said Dozier, who's batting .220 but went 6 for 11 with a homer and four RBIs in his previous three games. "Sometimes you just don't want to push those things."

The White Sox (20-10) won the series opener 10-4 after dropping the final two of a three-game set with Boston and tied their season high for runs. Melky Cabrera went 4 for 5 with three RBIs and Jose Abreu homered as the AL's top team handed the AL-worst Twins (8-21) their seventh defeat in eight games.

It got a little heated at one point, with Ventura being ejected following a benches-clearing incident after Abreu was hit with a pitch.

''We're not going to back down or be afraid in that situation,'' Ventura said. ''You back the guy up. For me, there was intent there.''

Ervin Santana (0-1, 3.15) looks to cool off the White Sox. Santana gave up five runs - two earned - in five innings against Milwaukee in his last start April 19 before landing on the disabled list because of a lower back strain.

Prior to his last outing, the right-hander allowed three runs in seven innings of a loss to the White Sox on April 14. He has a 2.70 ERA in his last three starts against them, and Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier are a combined 3 for 24 when facing Santana.

Avisail Garcia is 4 for 8 with a homer and a double against Santana, and he's batting .458 with two home runs during a seven-game hitting streak.

Santana is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last five road starts, which could bode well for a Twins team that is 2-13 away from home.

''Obviously, the losing piles up,'' manager Paul Molitor said. ''That's how it's going right now.''