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Twins' Blackburn has tough act to follow in Chicago

May 4, 2011 - 2:51 PM (Sports Network) - Francisco Liriano had posted just one win through his first five starts and had pitched to an earned run average over 9.00 before throwing the fifth no-hitter in Minnesota Twins history on Tuesday.

While the Twins probably aren't counting on another hitless performance they are hoping for a similar turnaround from Nick Blackburn this afternoon when they conclude a brief two-game set against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Blackburn has been awful since winning his season debut and has lost his past four starts, surrendering 15 earned runs in his last three outings. He lasted just 3 1/3 innings his previous time out against the Tampa Bay Rays, who pounded him for seven runs (five earned) and eight hits. He also walked four batters and saw his ERA rise to 5.14.

"I just couldn't throw strikes," Blackburn said. "Everything I was throwing was going in the dirt. It was just one of those days. It's not very often I have to tell myself to the get the ball up."

Blackburn has faced the White Sox 14 times (13 starts) and is 6-5 against them with a 3.95 ERA.

Liriano, meanwhile, became the first Twins hurler since Eric Milton in 1999 to throw a no-hitter in Minnesota's 1-0 win in Tuesday's opener. He walked six and fanned two and matched a career-high with 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 and allowed six hits and one run over eight full frames for Chicago, which hadn't been no-hit since Bret Saberhagen of the Kansas City Royals did it in 1991.

The White Sox have now lost six of seven and 16 of 20 overall.

"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."

Heading to the hill for the White Sox this afternoon will be lefty John Danks, who is still searching for his first win of the season. Danks lost his third straight start on Friday against Baltimore, as he allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings, dropping him to 0-4 on the season to go along with a 3.92 ERA.

Danks is 6-7 lifetime with a 5.06 ERA in 19 starts against the Twins.

Minnesota won 13 of its 18 matchups with the White Sox a year ago, including seven of the nine meetings in Chicago.