Twins Beat White Sox, 1-0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Kyle Gibson pitched eight strong innings and the Minnesota Twins scored on a wild pitch to beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, on Friday night.
Torii Hunter and Kennys Vargas each had two hits for Minnesota, which has won five of its last seven. Glen Perkins pitched a tense ninth inning for his seventh save.
Chicago had runners on second and third with two outs in its last at-bat, but Tyler Flowers struck out looking.
Jose Quintana (1-2) allowed six hits and one earned run in seven innings for the White Sox, whose offensive woes continued. Chicago has scored four runs in its past three games. Adam LaRoche had two hits.
Gibson (2-2) gave up just four hits, struck out four and walked one. After a rough first start of the season where he gave up six earned runs in 3 2-3 innings, Gibson has posted a 2.03 ERA over his last four outings, allowing just six earned runs in 26 2-3 innings.
Minnesota broke a scoreless tie in the fifth when Kennys Vargas scored a miscue by Quintana.
Vargas and Shane Robinson led off with singles and were on second and third with two outs when Quintana threw a pitch in the dirt on a 1-2 count to Hunter allowing Vargas -- listed at 6-foot-5 and 289 pounds in the media guide -- to rumble in from third base standing up.
Chicago had the best chance to score early with the bases loaded and one out in the second, but Flowers grounded into a double play.
Minnesota loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a single and two walks, but Kurt Suzuki struck out on a check-swing that would have been ball four. Eduardo Escobar then hit a ground ball deep in the hole at short. Alexei Ramirez's throw to first was ruled late on the field, but video review showed the throw beat Escobar to the bag for the third out.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: OF Adam Eaton missed the game with an illness and manager Robin Ventura said a few other Chicago players are not 100 percent healthy. With Eaton out, 2B Micah Johnson led off for the first time this season and struck out twice.
UP NEXT
The teams are scheduled to play the third game of this four-game series Saturday afternoon. Expected to come off a stint on the disabled list because of right elbow inflammation, Minnesota's Ricky Nolasco (0-1, 18.00) is scheduled to pitch against Chicago's Hector Noesi (0-2, 5.23). Noesi is 0-5 with a 4.89 ERA in his last seven starts.
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