How he will be received by the fans at Target Field remains the question.
"It will be different. Obviously having played for the Twins organization and coming up there in the Metrodome, it will be cool," Pierzynski said. "It will be nice. The city deserves a nice stadium, an outdoor baseball stadium. They have great fans, great people there. They got what they wanted. It would have been nice if they put a roof on it, but it wasn't in the cards. They did the best they could."
The veteran catcher spent six seasons with the Twins starting in 1998, and he said some of his fondest memories came at the Metrodome. He toured the new stadium last year.
"A lot of the stadiums, most of them are so nice, they have all the amenities and everything you ever want as a player," he said. "So it's nice that Minneapolis got out of the Metrodome and has a new toy to play with."
The White Sox could use a few wins to play with. They are currently eight games behind the first-place Twins in the AL Central.
It will be up to Freddy Garcia to close the divisional gap and keep Minnesota's offense in check. As the team's fifth starter, Garcia has been as consistent as any member of the White Sox rotation aside from John Danks. He gave up just two runs on 10 hits over six innings in his last start against the Royals to pick up his first victory of the season.
"He's done more than we thought, or what I thought," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of Garcia. "Every time we need a long outing from him and need some innings, he does it."
Garcia took the loss in his only start this season against the Twins, but he gave up just two runs on three hits over seven innings. For his career, the Venezuelan pitcher is 9-6 with a 3.76 ERA against the Twins.
The Twins will counter with Kevin Slowey. In his last start, Slowey pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up three runs to help his team complete a sweep of the Tigers in a 4-2 victory. All of his earned runs came off solo home runs, and that stat is significant when you consider Slowey hadn't given up more than one home run this season.
White Sox at the plate: Alex Rios has hit safely in 11 straight games. ... Gordon Beckham needs to show signs of improvement. He struck out three more times on Sunday. ... Bobby Jenks' job as the closer could be in jeopardy after a troublesome ninth inning. He faced four batters and all four scored in a 9-7 victory by the Blue Jays.
Minnesota on the mend: Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy was out of the lineup for Sunday's game, as he continues to rest after injuring his wrist in Tuesday's game with Detroit. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that if the wrist did not improve soon, he might be forced to make a roster move. ... Orlando Hudson was also held out of the game because of a sore shoulder.
Worth noting: Guillen said the days of the piranhas are over for the Twins. He said they are now the sardines.
"Ozzie is entertaining," Gardenhire said. "I love the guy, we have a lot of fun. He was the one that gave us a nickname.
So will Gardenhire remove the helmet in his office that has a piranha on it?
"I don't know if I want a sardine on top of a helmet, but we will take the piranhas or shark, or whatever he wants to call us," Gardenhire said.
Tue, 5/11 8:10 PM ET
| HITTER | AVG | AB | HR | RBI |
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| HITTER | AVG | AB | HR | RBI |
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Clutch hitting carries White Sox past Twins
The White Sox finally got the clutch hitting they have been lacking. A two-out, five-run rally in the fifth, highlighted by Alexei Ramirez's and A.J. Pierzynski's two-run doubles, lifted the visitors to a win over the Twins.
White Sox Beat
Photos
| Chi White Sox | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierre, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .244 |
| Pierzynski, C | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .204 |
| Jones, An, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .260 |
| Konerko, 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .282 |
| Rios, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .330 |
| Quentin, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .187 |
| Teahen, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .233 |
| Beckham, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .188 |
| Ramirez, Al, SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .218 |
| Totals | 36 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 16 | .231 |
| Minnesota | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Span, CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .269 |
| Hudson, O, 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .287 |
| Mauer, C | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .359 |
| Morneau, 1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .348 |
| Cuddyer, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .276 |
| Kubel, DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .213 |
| Young, D, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .267 |
| Harris, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .214 |
| a-Thome, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 |
| 1-Tolbert, PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Punto, 3B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .276 |
| Totals | 35 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 17 | .276 |
1-Ran for Thome in the 9th.
2B: Teahen (4, Slowey), Ramirez, Al (6, Slowey), Pierzynski (4, Slowey), Konerko (6, Burnett, Al), Pierre (1, Crain).
TB: Pierre 4; Pierzynski 2; Jones, An; Konerko 3; Rios 2; Teahen 2; Ramirez, Al 2.
RBI: Ramirez, Al 2 (11), Pierzynski 2 (10), Jones, An (18).
2-out RBI: Ramirez, Al 2; Pierzynski 2; Jones, An.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Pierre; Quentin 2; Teahen; Pierzynski.
GIDP: Jones, An.
Team RISP: 5-for-15.
Team LOB: 6.
BASERUNNING
SB: Rios (10, 2nd base off Slowey/Mauer).
FIELDING
Outfield assists: Jones, An (Kubel at home).
DP: 2 (Teahen-Beckham-Konerko, Konerko-Ramirez, Al-Konerko).
2B: Mauer (9, Garcia, F), Young, D (7, Garcia, F), Thome (5, Jenks).
HR: Morneau (8, 6th inning off Garcia, F, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Span; Mauer 4; Morneau 5; Kubel; Young, D 2; Thome 2; Punto 2.
RBI: Young, D (14), Morneau (22).
2-out RBI: Young, D.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cuddyer; Mauer; Kubel; Span.
GIDP: Cuddyer; Hudson, O.
Team RISP: 1-for-8.
Team LOB: 8.
FIELDING
E: Hudson, O (2, missed catch).
Outfield assists: Span (Beckham at 1st base).
DP: 2 (Harris-Hudson, O-Morneau, Span-Morneau).
| Chi White Sox | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garcia, F(W, 2-2) | 7.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4.75 |
| Thornton(H, 2) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 |
| Jenks(S, 6) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.23 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4.64 |
| Minnesota | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slowey(L, 4-3) | 4.2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4.62 |
| Burnett, Al | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.78 |
| Mahay | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Crain | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.02 |
| Duensing | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.38 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 3.56 |
Pitches-strikes: Garcia, F 96-61, Thornton 11-8, Jenks 16-9, Slowey 75-52, Burnett, Al 40-29, Mahay 4-3, Crain 12-5, Duensing 1-1.
Groundouts-flyouts: Garcia, F 5-7, Thornton 1-1, Jenks 1-1, Slowey 1-7, Burnett, Al 2-2, Mahay 0-0, Crain 0-1, Duensing 0-1.
Batters faced: Garcia, F 29, Thornton 4, Jenks 4, Slowey 22, Burnett, Al 11, Mahay 1, Crain 3, Duensing 1.
Inherited runners-scored: Burnett, Al 2-0, Mahay 1-0, Duensing 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Jeff Kellogg. 1B: Larry Vanover. 2B: Angel Campos. 3B: Jeff Nelson.
Weather: 45 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 10 mph, In from LF.
T: 2:39.
Att: 38,764.
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media
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