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White Sox-Twins Preview

May 12, 2010 - 4:53 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (13-19) at Minnesota (21-11), 1:10 p.m. EDT

Playing outdoors in Minnesota already seems to have a positive effect on the Chicago White Sox.

Chicago looks to complete a sweep of its two-game series against the first-place Twins on Wednesday afternoon at Target Field.

After losing 16 of their final 19 at the Metrodome, the White Sox (14-19) were glad to see the Twins move into a new outdoor facility.

"No matter what kind of ballpark they built, it was going to be better than that one," manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Guillen and the White Sox enjoyed their first visit to spacious Target Field, winning 5-2 on Tuesday.

The loss was the third in five home games for the Twins (21-12) after winning nine of their first 12 at Target Field.

Juan Pierre had three hits while A.J. Pierzynski and Alexei Ramirez each had two-run doubles to highlight a five-run fifth inning for Chicago, which hasn't swept a series of any length at Minnesota since June 29-July 1, 2004.

Alex Rios extended his hitting streak to 12 with a pair of hits for the White Sox, who've scored 19 runs while winning two of three.

"We went through a month where we couldn't get anything done," said Guillen, whose team ranks near the bottom of the majors with a .231 batting average. "The last couple days we've swung the bat better. Hopefully that carries on."

Rios is batting .408 during his streak, while Pierre is 7 for 15 in his last three games.

Bobby Jenks might have regained his closer role by pitching a scoreless ninth inning for his sixth save Tuesday. It came two days after he allowed four runs in the ninth of a 9-7 loss to Toronto and hours after Guillen said he would go with different closers based on the situation.

After Freddy Garcia threw seven solid innings in the opener, the White Sox hope to give John Danks (3-1, 1.98 ERA) more support than they did in his last start.

Danks allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings of a 2-0 loss to Toronto on Thursday.

The left-hander is 4-5 with a 5.13 ERA in 14 starts against the Twins.

Joe Mauer had three hits in his first start behind the plate since April 30, and Justin Morneau hit his eighth homer Tuesday for the Twins, who were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Mauer is 6 for 10 against Chicago this season.

Minnesota hopes to get back on track and finally provide some support for Carl Pavano (3-3, 3.40), who has lost his last two starts despite posting a 2.25 ERA. That's because the Twins haven't scored in either of those outings, the only two times they've been shut out this season.

Pavano gave up two runs and struck out eight in eight innings of a 2-0 loss to Baltimore on Thursday.

"What are you going to do?" Pavano told the Twins' official website. "I have to go out there and do my job. I can't worry about them getting runs. I have to worry about going out there and getting outs."

The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA in five starts against the White Sox.