Arcia HR In 10th Lifts Twins Past Sox 3-2
CHICAGO (AP) -- Oswaldo Arcia homered leading off the 10th inning, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 to complete the day-night doubleheader sweep on Friday.
Josh Willingham and Chris Hermann also went deep. Brian Duensing (6-1) picked up the win in both games, and the Twins prevailed in the nightcap after rallying to take the opener 7-5.
The big news came before the first game, with the White Sox trading Alex Rios to Texas.
Then, Justin Morneau hit a grand slam and solo homer to lift the Twins in the early game.
In the second game, Minnesota was trailing 2-1 heading into the eighth when Willingham greeted reliever Matt Lindstrom with a leadoff homer.
Arcia, who also homered in the first game, put the Twins ahead when he drove a 1-0 pitch from Dylan Axelrod (4-9) well beyond the center-field wall leading off the 10th.
Glen Perkins hit Avisail Garcia leading off the bottom half, but he ended it by retiring Alexei Ramirez on a fly to right with a runner on third for his 28th save in 31 chances.
That gave the White Sox 12 losses in 15 games and wiped out whatever momentum they built by sweeping the New York Yankees.
Hermann homered off Charlie Leesman in the fourth to give the Twins a 1-0 lead, but Chicago's Alexei Ramirez tied it with a solo drive in the bottom half against Liam Hendriks. That came hours after he hit a two-run shot, ending a home run drought that dated to April 3 and spanned 451 at-bats.
The White Sox's Blake Tekotte made it 2-1 with his first career homer, after being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte earlier in the day.
Leesman dodged several tight spots in his major league debut but left to a nice ovation after he walked Chris Colabello leading off the sixth. He allowed one run and four hits.
Hendriks went 6 1-3 innings and gave up two runs and seven hits.
Caleb Thielbar came in with runners on first and third and struck out Garcia — the promising outfielder who was called up after the Rios trade —batting for Tekotte.
Clete Thomas made a nice running catch on Alejandro De Aza's fly to center to end the threat, and White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham saved a run with a diving stop against a pinch-hitting Joe Mauer with two on and two out in the eighth.
In the first game, the White Sox were in line for their fourth straight win before Morneau mucked it up.
His grand slam off reliever Nate Jones with two out in the seventh wiped out a 3-1 deficit. He added a solo drive in the ninth off Ramon Troncoso, making it 7-3.
Perkins gave up a two-run single to Ramirez in the bottom half before striking out Adam Dunn to end the game.
Colabello and Oswaldo Arcia also went deep for Minnesota and the Twins came away with the win after dropping two of three at Kansas City.
Chicago's Paul Konerko tied Cal Ripken Jr. with his 431st home run. Ramirez made it 3-1 with a two-run drive in the fifth, and the White Sox fell after sweeping three from the New York Yankees.
John Danks was in line for his first win since July 2, but the bullpen couldn't hold it for him.
He left after walking Clete Thomas and Pedro Florimon to start the seventh.
Matt Lindstrom struck out Brian Dozier before Donnie Veal (1-3) walked Joe Mauer to load the bases.
Then, after Jones struck out Josh Willingham, Morneau drove a 1-2 pitch out to right. The grand slam was the seventh of his career and his first since July 20, 2009, at Oakland.
Gibson lasted 5 2-3 innings for Minnesota and allowed three runs and four hits, including the drives by Konerko and Ramirez. He struck out four and walked four.
Duensing (5-1) struck out Blake Tekotte to end the sixth.
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