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Buehrle wins again as White Sox beat Twins

May 20, 2009 - 4:24 AM CHICAGO(AP) -- Nobody is debating who the White Sox ace is.

Mark Buehrle pitched seven solid innings and Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer to help Chicago snap a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Jermaine Dye homered and Jim Thome added a two-run double in the seventh for the White Sox, who won for just the fourth time in 16 games.

Buehrle (6-1) added to his solid season, allowing two runs and scattering eight hits. He had four strikeouts and did not issue a walk. The White Sox are 7-1 in his starts compared with 9-21 when he doesn't pitch.

"Mark did a great job. He's been the stopper as of late for us. He is a true No. 1 for us and he came out today and stopped the bleeding that's been going on and it was all around a great effort," Dye said.

The Twins came to Chicago after getting swept by the New York Yankees in a four-game series. To make matters worse, they had to face Buehrle, now 23-13 lifetime against Minnesota.

"I owned them," Buehrle joked. "Obviously, we face them a lot of times. It seems like it goes back and forth. ... Obviously I'm on one of those stretches now. Tonight was one of those games where I probably missed more spots tonight than I have in a lot of starts and I got lucky with them."

After finishing a dismal road trip with one win, the White Sox rebounded with a three-run first inning off Twins starter Scott Baker. Thome led off with a single, then Konerko connected on a 2-0 pitch for his fifth homer of the season. With runners on first and second, Alexei Ramirez, who was in a 2-for-14 slump, hit an RBI double to right-center.

Dye tagged Baker with a solo shot in the fifth inning, his ninth of the season.

Joe Mauer homered for the Twins, who have lost five straight and are 4-13 on the road. Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire held a team meeting after the game.

"A little frustrating right now. We had a little meeting after the game and talked about trying to invent the game. They're coming up with things. We're trying to invent stuff. You can't just do that in a game. You have to play the game," Gardenhire said. "It's getting a little quiet on the bench and that's not acceptable. We're all about nine innings and getting after it. So we had a little bit of a talk about that."

Baker (1-5) allowed four runs and five hits in five innings.

"It's hard to pitch deep in the ballgame when you have an inning like that," he said. "I don't think it's any secret that it was a battle tonight."

Mauer extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a home run in the sixth.

With runners on first and third and one out in the seventh, Nick Punto hit a sacrifice fly to Dye in right. Konerko conceded the run and cut off Dye's throw, firing to second to get Mike Redmond.

With the White Sox leading 4-2 in the seventh, Thome gave Buehrle some insurance with a two-run double off reliever Sean Henn, who had his contract purchased from Triple-A Rochester before the game.

Thome has 10 hits in his last 22 at-bats.

Notes: Twins OF Delmon Young will be out until at least Friday after his mother died Monday following a bout with cancer. Young left the team last Friday before the start of a four-game series at the New York Yankees to attend to his mother, Bonnie, and was placed on the family medical emergency list. Gardenhire said Tuesday that Young will miss the three-game series against Chicago and won't be back until Friday at the earliest. Services are planned later in the week in Vicksburg, Miss.