MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 5 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, June 25.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-6 with a home run (his tenth), a double, and three RBIs.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Juan Rincon pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out two.  Johan Santana struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out four in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Joe Crede was 2-for-5.  Frank Thomas was 2-for-5.  D'Angelo Jimenez was 2-for-6.  Jose Valentin was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his tenth.  Damaso Marte pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.  Tom Gordon struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and two walks.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the first on two singles and a walk, but could only score one on a sacrifice fly.  The 1-0 lead held up until the fourth.  Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for the White Sox with none out, and they did a lot more with the situation.  Brian Daubach singled home a run, another run scored on a ground out, and Valentin hit a three-run homer, making the score 5-1 Chicago.

The Twins got one back in the fourth when Torii Hunter reached on an error and scored on an A. J. Pierzynski double.  They then tied it with three in the sixth.  Doug Mientkiewicz hit a one-out triple and scored on Mohr's single.  Luis Rivas singled with two out and Jones delivered a two-run double to make the score 5-5.

The White Sox put two on with two out in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, and the Twins loaded the bases with two out in the tenth, but the score remained tied until the eleventh.  With one out Jones put an end to things with a walkoff home run.

WP:  Guardado (1-2).  LP:  Billy Koch (2-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Justin Morneau was the DH.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Rivas in the eleventh.

Koskie raised his average to .308.  Mientkiewicz was 1-for-5 and was batting .304.  Jones raised his average to .303.  Morneau was 1-for-5 and was batting .302.

Joe Mays started for the Twins.  He did well for three innings, but his line was 3.1 innings, five runs, six hits, a walk, and zero strikeouts.  His ERA went up to 5.77.  Santana's ERA went down to 2.09.  Hawkins was at 1.88 and Guardado went to 2.84.

Record:  The Twins were 41-35, in second place in the American League Central, two percentage points behind Kansas City.