Friday night’s series opener between the Twins and the White Sox was the game that the White Sox were supposed to win. Boof Bonser hadn’t shown much all season long and the way of the offense has struggled over the past week and a half, it appeared the Twins would need good pitching to win games. However, Boof pitched just well enough to keep the Twins in the game and the bullpen shut down the White Sox, allowing just one hit—a weak infield chopper— in the final 3 2/3 innings of the game.

Bonser pitched 1-2-3 innings in the first and second and escaped a double, walk and wild pitch in the third inning with no damage done. The White Sox took the lead in the fourth with a two run homer by Jermaine Dye. The White Sox lead didn’t last for long. The twins came back in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back doubles by Torii Hunter and Jason Kubel and Kubel scored later in the inning on a Jason Bartlett sacrifice.

The White Sox tied the game in the sixth and knocked Bonser out of the game, but Pat Neshek came in to close the doors on Chicago’s rally. The White Sox had no chance after that. Hunter hit a line drive homer down the left field line to put the Twins in the lead for good. They added two runs in the 7th and one in the 8th to win by a healthy margin of 7-3.

Game Notes

• Pat Neshek got the win and is now 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA
• Dennys Reyes, Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier pitched the final 2 1/3 innings without allowing a baserunner.
• Torii Hunter hit his 16th homer of the year and was 2-3 in the game with 2 runs scored.
• Justin Morneau picked up 2 RBI to increase his season total to 106.
• Nick Punto was 3-5 with 2 runs and 1 RBI in his return after missing the Cleveland series with an injured knee.

The victory put the Twins in a good position to win the series, and possibly sweep. Brad Radke will take the mound against Jon Garland on Saturday night and Johan Santana will take on Javier Vasquez on Sunday. Friday’s victory moved the Twins within 1 game of the wildcard lead. Detroit also lost, decreasing their division lead to 6.5 games over the White Sox.

Boston fading fast

ESPN had a dream day on Friday, with the Yankees and Red Sox not only playing eachother, but playing a double header against eachother. It was an ugly set of games, with a total of 41 runs being scored in the two games. Boston lost both games, slipping them 3.5 games behind the Yankees and 3 games behind the White Sox.