White Sox Video

Buehrle picks off Boesch

Jones' three-run jack

Twins Video

Pavano wins his 15th

Mauer's RBI double

In reality, it's been a one-sided affair for the better part of two seasons.

Minnesota will try to continue to pad its division lead with a three-game sweep of Chicago when the two clubs lock horns in the series finale on Thursday at Target Field.

With Wednesday's 7-6 victory, the Twins are now 21-6 against the White Sox since May 21, 2009, including a 13-4 mark at home during that span.

Despite his club's recent dominance over the White Sox, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said the rivalry is still an intense one.

"We like beating them and they like beating us, and that's a good rivalry," Gardenhire said. "We play them a lot. I think the one thing about this division is that you play each other so much, and you get to know each other. It's not like we're throwing at them and they're throwing at us and totally hating each other."

Minnesota will send Carl Pavano to the hill to try to complete the sweep. Pavano has evolved into one of the most consistent starters in the American League this season and will be aiming for victory No. 16, which would tie him with CC Sabathia for the most in the league.

In his last start, Pavano notched his 15th win when he allowed two earned runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings against Oakland.

"He just keeps battling -- he just doesn't give in if something doesn't go his way," Gardenhire said of Pavano after that game. "If he makes a bad pitch, he bears down and gets the ball where he needs to and gets a big out, and that's what he did tonight. He was up in the zone a lot tonight, a lot more than we have seen recently. He was able to get the ball where he needed to when he had to and get some big outs."

Taking the mound for the White Sox will be Mark Buehrle, who has a career record of 24-17 against the Twins but has not won in Minnesota since 2007.

White Sox: Elite sluggers
With his 30th home run on Tuesday, Paul Konerko joined some elite company by becoming one of just five active players to have six or more 30-home run seasons with their current club. Albert Pujols (Cardinals), Chipper Jones (Braves), Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) and Todd Helton (Rockies) are the others.

Twins: Thome ready to gobble Big Mac
Thome's walk-off home run in the 10th inning on Tuesday was also the 581st of his career, which put him two homers away from tying Mark McGwire for ninth on baseball's all-time home run list. That big bat has turned out to be a handy weapon for the Twins this season, especially with Justin Morneau on the 15-day disabled list with a concussion.

"He's been massive for us because of Morneau going down," Gardenhire said. "That's been huge with Morney down, sticking Thome in there and playing like [he has], that's unbelievable. Not exceeded my expectations, because I had pretty high expectations when we got him."

Worth noting
The White Sox have posted 74 quality starts, which ranked second in the Majors entering Wednesday. ... Five of Chicago's losses since the All-Star break have come when holding the lead in the eighth inning or later. ... The White Sox bullpen has a 6.95 ERA (18 earned runs in 23 1/3 innings) with two blown saves in its last eight games. ... Twins relievers Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier have combined to throw 17 scoreless innings against the White Sox this season. ... Jason Kubel has tallied 20 RBIs in August, which ranked first in the Majors entering Wednesday. ... Minnesota has won nine in a row at home. ... The Twins have scored 102 runs in the first inning, which is the most in the Majors.