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White Sox seek rare split with Twins

Jul 10, 2011 - 2:40 PM (Sports Network) - The Chicago White Sox captured their first victory of the season over the Minnesota Twins yesterday, and Ozzie Guillen's team will attempt to carry the momentum into today's finale of a four-game set from U.S. Cellular Field.

On Saturday, Alexei Ramirez ripped an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the White Sox to a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Twins.

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.

"It was a great ball game," 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. Casilla's club now owns a 20-29 record on the road this season.

Minnesota had won nine in a row against the White Sox prior to yesterday's defeat and is 28-7 in the previous 35 meetings between the two teams. The Twins are sport a 14-3 mark in the previous 17 contests as the visitor in this series.

The White Sox are 4 1/2 games back in the AL Central, while Minnesota is seven games off the pace in the division.

Anthony Swarzak will get the ball for Minnesota today in place of Scott Baker, who will miss his turn in the rotation because of a right flexor muscle strain. Swarzak, who has been used quite a bit in relief, made his last start back on June 2. In that tilt against Kansas City, the righty allowed only two earned runs in six innings en route to victory.

Opposing Swarzak for Chicago will be Jake Peavy, who has made eight starts to date. The veteran righty is 4-2 with a modest 4.83 ERA and has nearly four times more strikeouts than walks. He didn't throw the ball very well on Tuesday, however, as he yielded five earned runs in six innings of action.

Peavy has only faced Minnesota twice in his career and didn't figure in either decision despite posting a combined 2.84 ERA.