The Twins won the first of four games against the White Sox with the help of another great performance by Johan Santana. Johan didn't waste any time ending the no hit bid this time by giving up a leadoff double to Pablo Ozuna in the 1st. However, like his last start against the Tigers, Johan held his opponent scoreless through 6 innings. During that time the Twins offense was strong against struggling White Sox starter Jon Garland.

The scoring started off in the 2nd when Justin Morneau hit his 9th homer of the year to also score Michael Cuddyer who got another double (11) prior to Morneau's at bat. Morneau then started off a 4th inning rally with a hard hit single to right field. Rondell White and Tony Batista followed up with singles to load the bases and Juan Castro singled to bring in one run. Shannon Stewart struck out for the 2nd out of the inning, but Luis Castillo picked him up with a bases-loaded 2-out single to score 2 more runs and extend the lead to 5-0.

The 6th inning saw a solo homer from Batista, his third of the year, and a 2-run homer by Mauer. The Twins continued the even-inning scoring trend with 2 more runs in the 8th credited to a Castillo double and a Mauer single.

Santana gave up a solo homerun in the 7th inning, but that was all the scoring the White Sox would do. He struck out the final batter he faced to make it 10 for the game. Santana improved his record to 4-3 and dropped his ERA to 3.38. Again, he had a WHIP under 1 (5 hits + 1 walk in 7 innings). Matt Guerrier pitched the 8th and Dennys Reyes pitched the 9th.

Game Notes

• Luis Castillo and Shannon Stewart, who were both absent in the April Series in Chicago combined to be 5-for-9 tonight with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. How important are these guys (especially Castillo) to this lineup?
• Morneau was 2-for-4 and raised his average to .237. In May he's hitting .297 with an OPS of 1.042.
• Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit tonight.

Looking Ahead

As great as tonight's game was, it was one that the Twins were expected to win. The next three games they won't have Johan on the mound and they'll be facing Vasquez, Buerhle, and Garcia (all of whom are far better than Garland). The Twins badly need Radke and Silva to step up this weekend. The next couple games will be a true test for the Twins bats, which have been remarkably improved over the past week.

In the Division

Detroit handed Cleveland its fourth straight loss Friday night. The Twins find themselves only a half game behind Cleveland, although they still sit 7.5 behind the first place White Sox and 6 behind Detroit.