Chicago, IL – The Chicago White Sox ended their scoring slump by batting around during a seven-run first inning, and went on to crush the Minnesota Twins, 12-1, to end a six-game losing streak.
Chicago's first inning outburst totaled the amount it scored over its most recent slide, with the team's 1-8 hitters each recording at least one hit, one run scored and one RBI in the victory.
Backed by plenty of support, Erik Johnson (1-2) cruised over six scoreless innings to pick up his first major league victory. He allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out eight.
"You could say that. It's good, I think, for the lineup to have a night like this with a lot of guys swinging the bats," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "If we need dogs to show up every night, we'll go ahead and make that happen."
Liam Hendriks (1-3) only got two outs before his outing was over. He allowed five singles and three walks, with his last pushing in Chicago's fifth run. He exited with the bases loaded and was charged with seven runs in all.
"I missed a couple of pitches, got some weak contact, but after that I couldn't get into a rhythm, I couldn't get into a flow. That was embarrassing," Hendriks said.
Conor Gillaspie, Paul Konerko, Dayan Viciedo and Gordon Beckham each drove in runs with hits and Alejandro De Aza, who led off the first, drew a bases loaded walk that forced Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to go to his bullpen.
Michael Tonkin took the mound and Alexei Ramirez opened up a 7-0 lead for the White Sox with a two-run single that capped the big inning.
Back-to-back home runs from Adam Dunn and Viciedo in the fourth made it a nine-run game, and Jordan Danks' two-run shot in the sixth pushed the spread to double digits.
It was 12-0 in the seventh, after Ramirez drove in his third run of the day with a solo homer.
The Twins finally got on the board in the next half frame on Chris Parmalee's RBI single.
Game Notes
The White Sox had 13 hits ... Ramirez was 4-for-4 ... Alex Presley and Oswaldo Arcia each had two hits for Minnesota ... White Sox catcher Bryan Anderson was the only starter not to record a hit for the team.
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