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Casilla helps vault Twins into AL Central lead

Sep 26, 2008 - 5:17 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Metrodome magic is alive and well.

Alexi Casilla's RBI single in the 10th inning on Thursday gave the Minnesota Twins a 7-6 victory and a sweep of the Chicago White Sox, leapfrogging them into the lead in the American League Central Division.

With one out in the 10th, Nick Punto walked and went to second on a groundout by Carlos Gomez before advancing to third on a wild pitch by White Sox closer Bobby Jenks. Casilla then followed with a single to left as the Twins completed an unlikely comeback.

"They don't want to throw to (Joe) Mauer," Casilla said about the Twins' All-Star catcher, who hits behind Casilla in the order. "So they better pitch to me. I wasn't doing too good in the game. I was swinging at everything. But in that at-bat, I said, 'OK, I am going to hit it right now.'"

Joe Nathan (1-2) earned the victory with two scoreless innings, striking out two.

Minnesota (87-72) entered the series 2 1/2 games behind the White Sox (86-72). The sweep allowed the Twins to take over first place in the division by one-half game for the first time since September 2. Minnesota is 52-26 at home this season, and 8-1 at the Metrodome against Chicago.

The Twins host Kansas City for three games this weekend, while Chicago returns home for a three-game set with Cleveland. If needed, the White Sox also have a possible makeup game with Detroit on Monday.

"We have to look at it like they are going to win all of their games against Kansas City," Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said. "That means we have to win the rest of our games and the one on Monday. But, you can't win all four at once. You have to battle tomorrow and keep the intensity that we have and good things should happen."

In front of the largest Metrodome crowd since the home opener, Minnesota kept pecking away at a 6-1 deficit and eventually tied the game in the bottom of the eighth.

Carlos Gomez's fourth hit of the game scored pinch-hitter Brendan Harris, who opened the inning with a double. Denard Span then tripled down the right-field line off of Jenks (3-1) to plate Gomez and put the game into extra innings.

"For some reason, we just feel confident right now," Span said. "We are in our home place and our fans are with us. For some reason, we just feel like, I don't know, I didn't see any doubt on anybody's face. We felt like we were going to pull it off sooner or later."

It was Jenks' fourth blown save of the year. He finished with 2 1/3 innings, surrendering three hits and two earned runs.

"Our bullpen did a good job," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "A lot of people are going to see the runs they scored late, but Bobby threw two-plus innings and so did (Matt) Thornton. We only had one good inning. When you have 27 innings and only one good inning, you're not going to win that many games."

Minnesota starter Kevin Slowey was perfect through 3 1/3 innings before allowing a solo homer to Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera's eighth home run was the beginning of the end for Slowey.

Jermaine Dye singled and Jim Thome followed with a fly ball to right-center field. Span appeared to have a shot at the catch, but he and Gomez both ljumped for the ball, colliding as Thome ended up at second.

Konerko's RBI groundout scored Dye. With two out, Ken Griffey Jr. walked and Alexei Ramirez singled to score Thome. A.J. Pierzynski then was hit by Slowey's pitch to load the bases again.

Uribe followed with a liner off of Slowey's wrist. The righthander recovered to pick up the ball, but his throw to first was wide of Justin Morneau, allowing three runs to score and ending his night.

Slowey finished with 3 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and six runs - four earned - while striking out three. He left the game with a right wrist contusion and X-rays were negative.

"I remember saying it's going to be a tough fight all year long," Guillen said. "We are where we are right now. Nobody said we were going to run away, or they were going to run away with this. I think that, and that's what happened right now."

Minnesota scored two runs in the fourth to make it a 6-3 game as Gomez laced an RBI triple and Span hit an RBI blooper to left.

The Twins added a run in the sixth on a Gomez's triple and sacrifice bunt by Span.

"Everybody's got emotion here," Gomez said. "You see the one through the nine in the lineup, everybody wants to try and do something. Everybody needs one pitch and the next time you say, 'I get it.' I know for sure we can get it. We've got a lot of confidence."