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Santana pitches Twins past White Sox

Apr 8, 2007 - 11:37 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Rookie John Danks appears to have a promising future but he found out there's nothing like the present.

Johan Santana pitched masterfully for seven innings to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Making his major league debut, the lefthanded Danks had just one bad inning. but that was one too many against Santana (2-0).

The two-time Cy Young Award winner dominated in his second start of the season, allowing just a second-inning single to Joe Crede in seven overpowering innings.

"Johan threw the ball fantastic for us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He had (all of his pitches) working there at the end. You could see the killer instinct. Once we got the lead, you could see him really get after it; his changeup got better, his fastball a little crisper. He knows what to do with a lead."

The ace lefthander who captured the Cy Young in 2004 and 2006, Santana struck out nine and walked three before turning the game over to his bullpen.

"I know what my job is, what it takes for me to help my team, and that's what I always do," Santana said. "I saw all my pitches coming out of my hand, and (I'm) going to continue to improve throughout the season."

Justin Morneau, last year's American League MVP, provided all the offense Minnesota needed by blasting a three-run homer - his second of the season - in the fourth inning against Danks (0-1).

"(Danks) looked good," Morneau said. "He was coming after guys, he was throwing strikes, he didn't look scared at all. He threw the ball well. It was really only that one mistake that he got beat on."

Acquired from the Texas Rangers in the offseason, the 21-year-old Danks allowed three runs and four hits - all coming in the fourth inning - while striking out six and walking two.

"My goal going in was to get us into the sixth or seventh inning, and I accomplished that," Danks said. "I just have to space out my hits a little bit. You give up four in a row and bad things will happen."

Danks had not allowed a hit through three innings before Joe Mauer and Mike Cuddyer opened the fourth with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners.

That brought up Morneau, who hammered a deep home run to right for a 3-0 cushion.

"Everyone wanted to see what (Danks) had," Morneau said. "Sometimes it takes one or two or even three at-bats. Even after we got the runs, he still kept coming at us. It was pretty impressive for his first big league start."

Juan Uribe accounted for Chicago's only run with a solo shot in the eighth inning off Jesse Crain, his second homer in two days.

Closer Joe Nathan worked around two singles in the ninth for his third save in as many chances as the teams split the weather-abbreviated two-game series.

Still, the talk in the White Sox locker room was the mesmerizing performance by Santana.

"It seems like (Santana's) always on his A game," Crede said. "He's a great pitcher."