If this was Jake Peavy’s last start of the season, he’ll definitely be going out on a high note.

Peavy struck out a season-high nine and Alex Rios homered to help the Chicago White Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Peavy (7-7) allowed four hits and walked two in 6 1-3 innings against a Twins team that had three players who were called up from Double-A in the last two days.

After the game, Peavy was asked about being shut down for the rest of the season. The 30-year-old right-hander has been plagued by shoulder problems for the last two years, and he said he was “worn down and tired” as the season enters its final month.

“I can go either way,” Peavy said. “Whatever they see fit. Whatever they want me to do.”

Alejandro De Aza had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI, and Sergio Santos picked up his 29th save for the White Sox, who have won three in a row and eight of 12.

Liam Hendriks (0-1) allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings in his major league debut. Chris Parmelee had two hits in his first game as a pro, but the Twins lost for the 14th time in 17 games.

Paul Konerko, who hasn’t hit a homer in his last 60 at-bats, got a much-needed day off, but the White Sox still managed to scratch together enough offense for Peavy. Brent Morel added an RBI single as the Sox beat the Twins for the eighth time in the last nine games in the series.

“Every time he’s on the mound, we feel great stuff is going to happen,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of Peavy. “That’s the kind of pitcher he is. He’s been up and down a few times, but always in the back of our minds we know he’s one year off of major surgery. We just hope when he’s back on the mound, he can do the same stuff.”

The White Sox are in the middle of a stretch of 28 straight games against the AL Central, but they only have three games left against division-leading Detroit. The Tigers beat the Indians 10-1 on Tuesday night, keeping the White Sox eight games back.

“We’re still in the pennant race,” Guillen said before the game. “I know it’s going to be hard. … One thing about it, we’re not going to quit.”

There was a time when the Twins owned the White Sox, going 29-7 against them in a stretch that included six straight victories to open 2011. But the wheels have come off for a Twins team that expected to contend for a third straight division title.

Calling up Hendriks, Parmelee and center fielder Joe Benson from Double-A New Britain gave the Twins three players in the starting lineup making their major league debuts for the first time in franchise history, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Benson misplayed a fly ball from De Aza in the fifth inning, diving for it and letting it get past him for a triple. Morel followed with a single to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.

That was plenty for Peavy, who stranded runners on third base in the second and fourth innings but never really ran into trouble all night long.

“There’s no doubt I look forward to a nice winter and nice comeback season next year, but at the same time I’m grinding through this one,” Peavy said. “It has been a grind. Some good, some not so good. I’m just going to see what they want to do. I’m on board with whatever.”

Joe Mauer went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, hearing plenty of boos when Matt Thornton got him swinging in the eighth.

The Twins were shut out for the 12th time this season, tied a season high with 14 strikeouts and have managed just two runs in their last four games. They trail the Tigers by 22 games in the Central and were officially eliminated from the playoff race on Tuesday night.

“You know it was going to be a tough night with Peavy out there. … Tonight he just ate us up with the breaking ball and the fastball. He had a really good ballgame against us,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

NOTES: The Twins said Justin Morneau will go through early batting practice on Wednesday to test his concussion symptoms. Even though he is not on the DL, he will have to get approval from Major League Baseball before being cleared to return to the field. When he does, Morneau will only DH and not play 1B. … The last team to debut at least three players in the starting lineup on the same day was the San Diego Padres, when they had four in 1986. … The last time three Twins made their big league debuts in the same game was April 7, 1999, against Toronto, when Joe Mays, Dan Perkins and Mike Lincoln all came out of the bullpen. … Guillen said he considered giving Konerko one of the games of Monday’s doubleheader off, but wanted to get him a full day’s rest. Konerko will be back in the lineup on Wednesday night. … White Sox OF Juan Pierre went 0 for 4 and remains two hits shy of 2,000 for his career. … RHP Carl Pavano (7-11, 4.60) takes the mound in the series finale on Wednesday night against White Sox LHP John Danks (6-10, 4.01). Danks is just 2-7 on the road this season, the fourth-lowest winning percentage in the majors. But he’s 6-2 with a 2.85 ERA over his last 12 starts after starting the season 0-8 with a 5.25 ERA. Pavano is 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA in three starts against the Sox this year. He’s given up an AL-high 221 hits this season and has allowed nine or more in eight of his last nine starts.

CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Peavy’s one bad inning was enough to send the Chicago White Sox to a costly loss.

Jason Kubel and Luke Hughes homered during Minnesota’s six-run first inning, and the Twins snapped Chicago’s five-game winning streak with a 7-6 victory on Wednesday.

“It was rough first inning,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I thought it was going to be a little bit worse than that.”

Kubel and Hughes each hit a two-run shot off Peavy (6-7), who allowed four consecutive extra-base hits during his rocky beginning. Trevor Plouffe, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer hit three straight doubles to plate the first two runs.

The White Sox fell six games back of the AL Central-leading Tigers, who rallied for a 5-4 victory over Kansas City. Chicago is off Thursday and opens an important three-game series at Detroit on Friday.

There was a stout wind blowing out to left field on a hot afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field and Peavy said Minnesota’s ability to get the ball up into the breeze was the key to its strong start.

“They were hitting the ball to left field and the ball was traveling to left field very well,” Peavy said. “Obviously I didn’t make a lot of good pitches.”

The damaging streak of extra-base hits started with Plouffe’s one-out double. Mauer drove in Plouffe to give him 500 career RBIs. Cuddyer then doubled in Mauer and scored when Kubel lofted a fly ball to left that got some help from the wind and barely cleared the outstretched glove of a leaping Juan Pierre.

“That ball to Kubel, he put his head down and going up the line, he was upset at himself,” Peavy said.

Kubel’s third homer in his last four games was his 14th in 39 career games at U.S. Cellular Field.

After Danny Valencia struck out, Rene Tosoni singled and Hughes hit a drive to left-center for his seventh homer.

Scott Diamond (1-2) allowed three runs and three hits in six innings to earn his first major league win. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Diamond may have learned from Peavy’s struggles.

“I think Diamond saw that in the first inning and decided he was going to throw the ball down,” Gardenhire said.

Joe Nathan yielded Paul Konerko’s two-run single in the ninth before finishing for his 12th save.

“That’s what Joe is known for is closing games,” Diamond said. “That’s what always makes the game exciting is ninth-inning drama, but like he always does, he closed the game down and got us a win.”

Peavy settled down after the rough start, giving the White Sox a chance to get back into the game. Lillibridge hit a two-run homer in the third and came all the way around from first to score on Konerko’s double in the sixth.

“We just battled,” Lillibridge said. “I’m sure Ozzie loved the way we played. We played hard and we kept forcing good at-bats and battling to the end.”

Peavy allowed six runs and eight hits over five innings, falling to 2-6 with a 5.77 ERA since a relief appearance on June 25. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner still isn’t 100 percent after having surgery on his right shoulder and said the bullpen outing might have been a mistake.

“If I could go back and take one thing away, I probably set myself back with the relief appearance I had,” Peavy said.

Jason Repko added a two-out drive in the seventh for the Twins, who went 7-21 in August for the club’s worst-ever record in the month.

Alex Rios hit an RBI single in the eighth but Chicago left the bases loaded when Tyler Flowers lined out to third to end the inning.

Chicago mounted another challenge in the ninth, but Nathan struck out Rios with a runner on first to end the game.

Guillen had Adam Dunn hit for Lillibridge with runners on second and third in the ninth and the much-maligned slugger struck out swinging before Konerko’s bloop hit.

“I didn’t want the matchup Nathan against Lilli,” Guillen said. “The only thing is go out and hit the ball out of the ballpark or walk. Obviously, he struck out but that’s the matchup I like the best. “

Tough loss, but now it’s on to Detroit for what may be a season-turning series for the White Sox, one way or another.

“I feel like we have to win the series to be really optimistic for the rest of the year,” Lillibridge said. “We’re ready. We’ve been playing good baseball.”

NOTES: Chicago OF Carlos Quentin said his sprained left shoulder has improved but he wasn’t willing to put a timetable on his possible return. He’s been on the disabled list since Aug. 21. . Twins 1B Justin Morneau (mild concussion symptoms) has to be cleared by the league before he can return. Morneau jammed his shoulder on Sunday and experienced headaches, prompting a concussion test. . After a day off, the Twins begin a three-game road series against the Angels on Friday with Carl Pavano going against Los Angeles ace Jered Weaver. . John Danks will start the series opener against Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who is 20-5. Verlander’s last loss came against Chicago on July 15.

CHICAGO (AP)—Jake Peavy’s(notes) one bad inning was enough to send the Chicago
White Sox to a costly loss.

Jason Kubel(notes) and Luke Hughes(notes) homered during Minnesota’s six-run first inning,
and the Twins snapped Chicago’s five-game winning streak with a 7-6 victory on
Wednesday.

“It was rough first inning,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I
thought it was going to be a little bit worse than that.”

Kubel and Hughes each hit a two-run shot off Peavy (6-7), who allowed four
consecutive extra-base hits during his rocky beginning. Trevor Plouffe(notes), Joe
Mauer(notes) and Michael Cuddyer(notes) hit three straight doubles to plate the first two
runs.

The White Sox fell six games back of the AL Central-leading Tigers, who
rallied for a 5-4 victory over Kansas City. Chicago is off Thursday and opens an
important three-game series at Detroit on Friday.

There was a stout wind blowing out to left field on a hot afternoon at U.S.
Cellular Field and Peavy said Minnesota’s ability to get the ball up into the
breeze was the key to its strong start.

“They were hitting the ball to left field and the ball was traveling to
left field very well,” Peavy said. “Obviously I didn’t make a lot of good
pitches.”

The damaging streak of extra-base hits started with Plouffe’s one-out
double. Mauer drove in Plouffe to give him 500 career RBIs. Cuddyer then doubled
in Mauer and scored when Kubel lofted a fly ball to left that got some help from
the wind and barely cleared the outstretched glove of a leaping Juan Pierre(notes).

“That ball to Kubel, he put his head down and going up the line, he was
upset at himself,” Peavy said.

Kubel’s third homer in his last four games was his 14th in 39 career games
at U.S. Cellular Field.

After Danny Valencia(notes) struck out, Rene Tosoni(notes) singled and Hughes hit a drive
to left-center for his seventh homer.

Scott Diamond(notes) (1-2) allowed three runs and three hits in six innings to earn
his first major league win. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Diamond may have learned
from Peavy’s struggles.

“I think Diamond saw that in the first inning and decided he was going to
throw the ball down,” Gardenhire said.

Joe Nathan(notes) yielded Paul Konerko’s(notes) two-run single in the ninth before
finishing for his 12th save.

“That’s what Joe is known for is closing games,” Diamond said. “That’s
what always makes the game exciting is ninth-inning drama, but like he always
does, he closed the game down and got us a win.”

Peavy settled down after the rough start, giving the White Sox a chance to
get back into the game. Lillibridge hit a two-run homer in the third and came
all the way around from first to score on Konerko’s double in the sixth.

“We just battled,” Lillibridge said. “I’m sure Ozzie loved the way we
played. We played hard and we kept forcing good at-bats and battling to the
end.”

Peavy allowed six runs and eight hits over five innings, falling to 2-6 with
a 5.77 ERA since a relief appearance on June 25. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award
winner still isn’t 100 percent after having surgery on his right shoulder and
said the bullpen outing might have been a mistake.

“If I could go back and take one thing away, I probably set myself back
with the relief appearance I had,” Peavy said.

Jason Repko(notes) added a two-out drive in the seventh for the Twins, who went
7-21 in August for the club’s worst-ever record in the month.

Alex Rios(notes) hit an RBI single in the eighth but Chicago left the bases loaded
when Tyler Flowers(notes) lined out to third to end the inning.

Chicago mounted another challenge in the ninth, but Nathan struck out Rios
with a runner on first to end the game.

Guillen had Adam Dunn(notes) hit for Lillibridge with runners on second and third
in the ninth and the much-maligned slugger struck out swinging before Konerko’s
bloop hit.

“I didn’t want the matchup Nathan against Lilli,” Guillen said. “The only
thing is go out and hit the ball out of the ballpark or walk. Obviously, he
struck out but that’s the matchup I like the best. “

Tough loss, but now it’s on to Detroit for what may be a season-turning
series for the White Sox, one way or another.

“I feel like we have to win the series to be really optimistic for the rest
of the year,” Lillibridge said. “We’re ready. We’ve been playing good
baseball.”

NOTES: Chicago OF Carlos Quentin(notes) said his sprained left shoulder has
improved but he wasn’t willing to put a timetable on his possible return. He’s
been on the disabled list since Aug. 21. . Twins 1B Justin Morneau(notes) (mild
concussion symptoms) has to be cleared by the league before he can return.
Morneau jammed his shoulder on Sunday and experienced headaches, prompting a
concussion test. . After a day off, the Twins begin a three-game road series
against the Angels on Friday with Carl Pavano(notes) going against Los Angeles ace
Jered Weaver(notes). . John Danks(notes) will start the series opener against Tigers ace
Justin Verlander(notes), who is 20-5. Verlander’s last loss came against Chicago on
July 15.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Chicago White Sox haven’t conceded the division race, during yet another mercurial season for temperamental manager Ozzie Guillen’s team.

Jake Peavy sure pitched like he isn’t giving up.

Peavy won for the first time in more than six weeks with eight shutout innings, and the White Sox beat the Twins 7-0 Sunday to sweep a three-game series in Minnesota for the first time in more than seven years.

“We’re going to grind things out,” Peavy, a former Wizard, said. “That’s a testament to these guys who have not mailed it in. After that last stretch, we could’ve come in here, our heads hung low, and mailed it in on a team that has had our number.”

Brent Lillibridge, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios each hit home runs for the White Sox, who had lost 29 of 36 games to their nemesis until winning three straight at Target Field this weekend. The backsliding Twins have lost seven of their last eight games.

That’s what the White Sox looked like at the beginning of the weekend, after losing six in a row after finally pulling back to the .500 mark. Those defeats did come against the top two teams in the American League, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, though, and with 50 games left in the underwhelming AL Central the White Sox aren’t at all out of it. They’re still in third place, but they climbed to 5 1/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers.

“It’s all about confidence,” Guillen said. “They’ve got their confidence back, and they know they can win.”

Peavy (5-5) last picked up a victory by pitching four shutout innings in his first career relief appearance, June 25 against the Washington Nationals, three days after he beat the crosstown rival Cubs with a so-so start. The 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner hasn’t been the same since coming to Chicago in a trade with the Padres, but the 30-year-old right-hander was in a rhythm that recalled his old San Diego form.

“Once he got the lead, he just said, ‘I’m getting ahead of every hitter,’ ” said Minnesota’s Michael Cuddyer, marveling at the way Peavy used and spotted his cut fastball.

Cuddyer added: “They stuck it to us, all three games.”

The power surge from Peavy’s teammates sure helped. The White Sox were averaging barely more than four runs per game when he’s pitched, but Lillibridge went deep for the second straight day in the second inning and Konerko followed suit in the fourth – both shots to the same section in the second deck above left field off Brian Duensing (8-10).

The White Sox hit only 18 home runs in July, their fewest in that month since 1992.

“You have to tip your hat to them. They hit the ball well,” said Duensing, lamenting that he left many of his sinkers up in the strike zone.

The Chicago White Sox haven’t conceded the division race, during yet another mercurial season for temperamental manager Ozzie Guillen’s team.

Jake Peavy sure pitched like he isn’t giving up. 

Peavy won for the first time in more than six weeks with eight shutout innings, and the White Sox beat the Twins 7-0 Sunday to sweep a three-game series in Minnesota for the first time in more than seven years. 

“We’re going to grind things out,” Peavy said. “That’s a testament to these guys who have not mailed it in. After that last stretch, we could’ve come in here, our heads hung low, and mailed it in on a team that has had our number.”

Brent Lillibridge, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Alex Rios each hit home runs for the White Sox, who had lost 29 of 36 games to their nemesis until winning three straight at Target Field this weekend. The backsliding Twins have lost seven of their last eight games overall. 

That’s what the White Sox looked like at the beginning of the weekend, after losing six in a row after finally pulling back to the .500 mark.
Those defeats did come against the top two teams in the American League, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, though, and with 50 games left in the underwhelming AL Central the White Sox aren’t at all out of it. They’re still in third place, but they climbed to 51/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers. 

“It’s all about confidence,” Guillen said. “They’ve got their confidence back, and they know they can win.”

Peavy (5-5) last picked up a victory by pitching four shutout innings in his first career relief appearance, June 25 against the Washington Nationals, three days after he beat the crosstown rival Cubs with a so-so start. The 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner hasn’t been the same since coming to Chicago in a trade with the Padres, but the 30-year-old right-hander was in a rhythm that recalled his old San Diego form. 
“Once he got the lead, he just said, ‘I’m getting ahead of every hitter,’” said Minnesota’s Michael Cuddyer, marveling at the way Peavy used and spotted his cut fastball. Cuddyer added: “They stuck it to us, all three games.”
The power surge from Peavy’s teammates sure helped. The White Sox were averaging barely more than four runs per game when he’s pitched, but little Lillibridge went deep for the second straight day in the second inning and Konerko followed suit in the fourth — both shots to the same section in the second deck above left field off Brian Duensing (8-10). 

The White Sox hit only 18 home runs in July, their fewest in that month since 1992. 

“You have to tip your hat to them. They hit the ball well,” said Duensing, lamenting that he left many of his sinkers up in the strike zone. 
Peavy, whose start was pushed back by one day, will probably have to play a big part for the White Sox to catch the Tigers. He gave up only three hits, all in the first three innings, and Joe Mauer’s double was the only way the Twins got a runner to second base.

Peavy struck out six without a walk, hitting one batter. 

“We’re just aggressive. I can’t stand putting people on base,” Peavy said. “My stuff was OK, but it makes all the difference in the world when you get a two or three-run lead early.”

Duensing lasted 6 1-3 innings, but he gave up nine hits — Rios had an RBI double to cap a stretch of three straight extra-base hits that started the fourth — and five runs while walking one and striking out four. 

One of those runs was unearned, due to a throwing error by Duensing in that rough fourth inning. He stopped a soft comebacker by Gordon Beckham but sent his throw well wide of first base, blowing an easy out and prompting manager Ron Gardenhire to rub his balding head before letting out a big sigh in the dugout. That’s the kind of mistake the Twins have been making lately, and being swept by the White Sox is a sure sign they’re struggling. They were 7-1 against their primary division rival this year until this weekend. 

“

CBSSports.com wire reports
July 10, 2011

CHICAGO — The way Ron Gardenhire sees it, the Minnesota Twins really don’t own the White Sox. That’s probably news to Chicago.

Anthony Swarzak dominated over six innings, and the Twins got back to beating the Chicago White Sox with a 6-3 victory on Sunday.

The Twins head into the All-Star break with nine wins in 12 games after taking three of four in this series. They shook off a 4-3 loss on Saturday that snapped a nine-game winning streak against Chicago dating to last season, getting an RBI single by Drew Butera and run-scoring double by Jason Repko in the fourth before tacking on three more while knocking out Jake Peavy (4-3) in the fifth.

That was more than enough for Swarzak (2-2), who simply made it look easy while filling in for the injured Scott Baker (strained right flexor muscle). The 25-year-old right-hander allowed just four hits and one run while striking out five and walking two as Minnesota beat Chicago for the 29th time in 36 games.

“You call it dominance,” Gardenhire said. “But it’s like a lot of one-run games, a lot of one- and two-run games, anything can happen at the end. We’re finding a way right now to get it done. That’s a team that can score so many runs. … They can throw a touchdown in a heartbeat. You sit there as nervous as can be.”

In the end, more often than not, he’s exhaling, though.

Peavy ran into trouble with two outs in the fourth when he walked Rene Tosoni and Tsuyoshi Nishioka before Butera and Repko came through, making it 2-0, and he didn’t make it out of the fifth as the White Sox lost for the fifth time in six games.

Alexi Casilla and Joe Mauer started that rally with singles, putting runners on first and third before Michael Cuddyer made it a three-run game with a sacrifice fly to deep left. Mauer moved up on that play and advanced to third on a single by Danny Valencia before Tosoni — who had two hits but is headed to Triple-A — drove him in with a single past a diving shortstop Alexei Ramirez, knocking Peavy out of the game.

Will Ohman came in and the lead hit 5-0 on an odd inning-ending double play, when Valencia scored on Nishioka’s grounder to second and Tosoni got caught off the base.

It was another rough outing for Peavy, whose ERA is now at 5.27 after he allowed five runs and 10 hits. He walked two and struck out two, giving him 1,501 in his career. He hasn’t performed the way he anticipated after undergoing surgery to repair a torn latissimus dorsi muscle under his right shoulder last summer and plans to see his physical therapist in Alabama during the break.

“No ifs, ands about buts about it,” he said. “My body has not bounced back. It’s not hard to see. I’m throwing 85-90 mph with my fastball. Breaking balls aren’t sharp, can’t even strike anybody out with it. Certainly not characteristic, not what I’ve had in times past, even when I came back here. But I’m looking forward.”

Pitching coach Don Cooper had said before the game that Peavy would probably start the final game of the Detroit series, but that plan might be altered.

“I’m 100 percent positive I’m going to come in on the back end of this rotation to give me a week to 10 days off to try to regroup and get ready to start whatever,” Peavy said. “Every 5-6 days. I look forward to just getting a little bit of my feet under me.”

The Twins, meanwhile, couldn’t have asked for more from Swarzak, who was making his fourth start of the season. He allowed a leadoff single to Juan Pierre in the first and didn’t allow another hit until Alex Rios singled with one out in the fifth.

The White Sox finally scored with two out in the sixth when Paul Konerko singled in Pierre, and got two more in the seventh when AJ Pierzynski and Gordon Beckham drove RBI doubles after Rios led off with a walk against Alex Burnett.

After Mark Teahen struck out, Glen Perkins came in and retired Pierre and Ramirez before working a scoreless eighth. Matt Capps then worked the ninth for his 15th save in 21 chances.

Swarzak, however, stole the spotlight before tiring in the sixth.

“They have such a good lineup out there, I was getting ready to throw a fifth pitch out there in the sixth innings,” he said. “I tried to throw all four pitchers at them. I said `off day coming up tomorrow, with the break and everything, just try to keep it quick, keep a good pace and throw the ball over.’ And that’s what I did today.”

Notes

• Gardenhire said after the game that the Twins are activating OF Delmon Young (ankle) from the 15-day disabled list, recalling infielder Trevor Plouffe from Triple-A Rochester and sending C Rene Rivera and OF Tosoni to the minor-league club.
• DH Jim Thome was out of the lineup because of a sprained left big toe after striking out in all four at-bats on Saturday.
• The White Sox placed C Ramon Castro on the 15-day disabled list because of a broken right hand and index finger and recalled catcher Tyler Flowers from Triple-A Charlotte before the game.
• John Danks, out with a strained right oblique muscle, threw three innings Sunday in a rehab start for Triple-A Charlotte and gave up two runs on a pair of homers. Cooper said he’ll make another rehab start before rejoining the rotation.