Twins 3 - 4 White Sox
Final
  for this game

Ramirez singles in winning run in ninth for ChiSox

Jul 10, 2011 - 2:34 AM

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Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Alexei Ramirez ripped an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the Chicago White Sox to a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in the third portion of a four- game series at U.S. Cellular Field.

A.J. Pierzynski, who replaced an injured Ramon Castro, doubled off Jose Mijares to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Mijares (0-1) retired the next two batters on fly balls, but he walked Juan Pierre. Alex Burnett was then summoned from the bullpen, but Ramirez singled up the middle to give the White Sox the win.

Castro was forced to leave the game in the eighth inning with a broken right hand after suffering the injury on a passed ball.

Jesse Crain (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth in relief of starter Mark Buehrle to earn the win for the White Sox, who snapped their four-game losing streak, and a nine-game skid against Minnesota.

"It was a great ball game," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Those are the types of games people like to watch. Finally, we got the big hit and we won."

Alexi Casilla went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI for the Twins, who lost for just the third time in their last 11 contests.

The Twins took a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Jason Repko began the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Revere. Repko advanced to third on a passed ball by Castro. Casilla followed with a sac fly to center.

The White Sox battled back to tie the game in the same inning. Pierre was hit by a Glen Perkins pitch and then moved to second on a Ramirez bunt. Paul Konerko was then intentionally walked. After Adam Dunn fouled out, Joe Nathan entered the game to face Carlos Quentin, who came through with an RBI single.

Earlier, Chicago opened the scoring in its first at-bat on a one-out solo home run by Ramirez, his ninth of the season.

Minnesota came back to take the lead with a pair of runs in the third. Luke Hughes led off and reached on an error by Chicago third baseman Brent Morel and Nishioka dropped down a bunt single. Repko followed with a well-placed sacrifice bunt and Revere picked up an RBI with a groundout. Casilla plated Nishioka with a sharp single to left.

The White Sox tied the game in the sixth. Pierre slapped a one-out single to left and Ramirez laced a single to center to put runners at the corners with one out. Pierre trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Konerko.

Chicago threatened to take the lead in the seventh, putting runners on second and third with two down, but Twins starter Brian Duensing induced a fly-out to right from Morel to end the inning.

"We were able to scratch across a couple runs, which is really positive," Duensing said of his team's performance. "At the same time, they were doing the same thing. It's a disappointing loss but overall, it was a pretty good ball game on both sides."

Game Notes

Buehrle fanned eight batters over his eight innings, while Duensing was charged with five hits over seven frames...Minnesota owns a 20-29 record on the road this season...Twins catcher Joe Mauer has a .328 career average against the White Sox...Chicago is 18-17 in day games this season...The White Sox improved their record against the Twins this season to 1-6.






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