Chicago, IL – Oswaldo Arcia scorched a go-ahead homer in the top of the 10th inning to help the Minnesota Twins sweep a day/night doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox with a 3-2 decision in Friday's nightcap at U.S. Cellular Field.
Brian Duensing (6-1), the winning pitcher in the opener of the twinbill, also earned the victory in the nightcap after spinning a 1-2-3 ninth. Glen Perkins stranded a runner on third in the 10th to secure his 28th save of the season.
Josh Willingham tied the game with a solo blast in the eighth, while Chris Herrmann also went deep for the Twins, who downed the White Sox 7-5 in the opener behind a pair of homers, including a grand slam, from Justin Morneau.
"You don't win too many ballgames when you strike out that many times," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The ball flies here. We put some good swings out there, got enough runs. The bullpen did a great job. Starters did a great job for us."
Alexei Ramirez smacked a solo homer in the fourth and Blake Tekotte tallied his first career homer for the White Sox, who were coming off a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees before dropping both games of the doubleheader.
Dylan Axelrod (4-9) yielded Arcia's leadoff homer in the 10th to absorb the loss.
After Arcia put the Twins on top in the 10th, Chicago threatened in the home half, as Perkins plunked Avisail Garcia with an 0-2 pitch to start the frame.
Garcia moved to second on Alejandro De Aza's sacrifice bunt and found third on Gordon Beckham's flyout, but Ramirez flied out down the right-field line to end Chicago's comeback bid.
Chicago starter Charles Leesman pitched effectively in his major league debut, striking out eight while giving up just one run -- a Herrmann homer in the fourth -- over five-plus frames.
"You like what you saw. He was battling and they didn't score much," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura.
Ramirez got the run right back for his starter with a two-out blast to left- center in the home half and Tekotte led off the sixth his first career longball to put Chicago in front.
Matt Lindstrom took over on the mound for Chicago to start the eighth and was greeted by Willingham, who launched the right-hander's third offering into the left-field seats to knot the game at 2-2.
Game Notes
Ramirez homered in both games of the twinbill, becoming the first White Sox player to homer in each game of a twinbill since Magglio Ordonez did it on April 28, 1999 against the Rays ... Minnesota starter Liam Hendricks gave up two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 frames ... Prior to the day game, the White Sox traded outfielder Alex Rios and cash considerations to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash considerations ... Minnesota went 0- for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.
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