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Liriano-no: Twins lefty holds White Sox hitless

May 4, 2011 - 6:52 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Francisco Liriano pitched the sixth no-hitter in Minnesota Twins history, leading them to a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a two-game set.

Liriano helped snap a six-game slide by becoming the first Twins hurler since Eric Milton on September 11, 1999, against Anaheim to hold an opponent hitless.

The White Sox hadn't been no-hit since Bret Saberhagen of the Kansas City Royals did it on August 26, 1991.

Liriano (2-4) walked six and fanned two, needing 123 pitches to accomplish the feat.

"I went out there and just took one pitch at a time, one hitter at a time," said Liriano.

Jason Kubel's one-out solo homer in the fourth inning was all the offense the Twins required on Tuesday.

Edwin Jackson (2-4) was the hard-luck loser, after allowing six hits and one run over eight full frames for Chicago, which has lost six of seven.

"I was asking people, 'What should a manager say?'" said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who had never been on the losing end of a no-hitter. "Every time that's happened, I'm the one that won."

Liriano took his no-hitter into the eighth despite walking four.

He induced a pop out from Alex Rios, and walked Ramon Castro but was the beneficiary of an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Gordon Beckham.

The relay throw from Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla pulled Justin Morneau off the bag at first base, but he was apparently able to tag Beckham for the final out. Multiple replays, though, showed the tag attempt didn't come close.

In the ninth, Brent Morel grounded to short, and Morneau was able to dig out a low throw from Matt Tolbert. Juan Pierre walked but Alexei Ramirez popped to short. Adam Dunn took three balls before Liriano countered with two strikes, then Tolbert squeezed Dunn's liner to end the game.

"I thought it was a base hit," Liriano said of the final out. "I'm very happy, very excited."

It was the first regular-season no-hitter since Matt Garza of Tampa Bay shut down Detroit, 5-0, on July 26, 2010.

Liriano was able to set down the home team in order in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. He retired 11 in a row from Paul Konerko's two-out walk in the fourth until Castro's base on balls in the eighth.

"They weren't hitting the ball very hard at all," said Kubel. "They were popping a lot of balls up. [Liriano] threw a lot of pitches, but they never really got into a groove. You could tell he had some really good stuff going."

Kubel slammed a Jackson offering into the seats in right for a 1-0 Twins edge in the fourth, then failed to send a runner home from second in the seventh after Danny Valencia doubled.

Matt Thornton turned aside Minnesota in order in the top of the ninth.

Game Notes

Liriano joined Jack Kralick (1962), Dean Chance (two in 1967), Scott Erickson (1994), and Milton (1999) among Minnesota pitchers to claim a no-hitter...The 27-year-old left-hander also turned in his first career complete game, and rebounded from his last start, an 8-2 loss to Tampa where he was charged with six hits and seven runs over three-plus innings...Chicago has now been no-hit 13 times, but this was the first time the ChiSox have been held hitless at home since Cleveland's Addie Joss won 1-0 on April 20, 1910...For Minnesota, it was the first road no-hitter since Chance beat Cleveland by a 2-1 count on August 25, 1967...Pierre walked three times and stole a base.