Minneapolis, MN – Alexei Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI to carry the Chicago White Sox past the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, in the finale of a four-game series at Target Field.
Avisail Garcia doubled twice, scored a run and knocked in another, and Hector Santiago (4-7) earned his first win in nearly two months by limiting the Twins to two runs -- one earned -- on nine hits over six quality innings.
"He used all his pitches today," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said of Santiago. "Getting him up there in the high pitch count, he was able to get through it with that."
Chicago won the final three games in the set, in part because Minnesota went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position while squandering 12 baserunners on Sunday.
"Offensively again, I don't even know what we were with runners in scoring position. I know it wasn't good at all," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "For the most part we left a lot of people out on the bases again."
Samuel Deduno (7-7) was charged with all five runs on eight hits over five innings for the Twins, who have dropped five of their last six games.
Deduno plunked three hitters in the first three innings, and the first two wound up scoring. Gordon Beckham was hit in the first frame, took second on a balk and scored on Ramirez's single through the middle.
Two innings later, Alejandro De Aza was hit in the foot and later scored on a double from Ramirez, who raced around for a 3-1 White Sox lead on Garcia's two-bagger.
Minnesota got its first run in the second inning when Trevor Plouffe doubled, advanced to third on an error and was pushed across on an Oswaldo Arcia groundout. The Twins added another in the third on Josh Willingham's RBI double, but Willingham was tagged out at home when he tried scoring on a wild pitch.
Ramirez continued his big day with a leadoff blast to left field in the fifth, and Jeff Keppinger made it a 5-2 game with a two-out, run-scoring single later in the inning.
Matt Lindstrom threw two innings of relief behind Santiago, and Addison Reed closed it out in the ninth for his 31st save.
Game Notes
The White Sox won three straight games on the road for the first time since taking four in a row from May 14-17 ... Santiago was 0-2 over his previous eight starts despite a minuscule 3.06 ERA. His previous win came against the Indians on June 21 ... The Twins had a streak of 10 straight games with a home run come to an end ... Minnesota still leads the season series, 10-6.
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