The Twins appeared to be on their way to winning their 10th straight game over the White Sox on Saturday at U.S Cellular Field.
Alexi Casilla provided a sacrifice fly to give Minnesota a one-run lead in the eighth inning, and with ace reliever Glen Perkins coming in for the bottom of the inning, it seemed the Twins would be able to hold on for another victory over their division rival.
But Perkins plunked Juan Pierre to lead off the eighth, and he eventually scored on a two-out single against Carlos Quentin off right-hander Joe Nathan to tie the ballgame.
And it set the stage for a walk-off 4-3 win for the White Sox in the ninth, as Alexei Ramirez laced a game-winning RBI single off right-hander Alex Burnett after Jose Mijares struggled earlier in the frame.
"We had it set up pretty good," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They just got some hits when they had to. We just hit a guy leading off an inning, especially a guy with that speed. We made some good pitches to get out of a couple jams, but didn't make enough up. They tied it up and then got a big hit from Ramirez. He's a really tough out."
Ramirez's two-out single into center field off Burnett scored former Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who doubled to lead off the inning against Mijares. Pierzynski, who didn't start the game, was only in because backup catcher Ramon Castro broke his right hand on a passed ball in the eighth inning.
Pierzynski, who noted he doesn't "have the best speed in the world," was able to beat the throw home from Ben Revere, and helped the White Sox beat the Twins for the first time this season.
"Every time you lose, then every day you come in here, you hear about it and you read about it," Pierzynski said. "It starts to fester in there and then you get to a point where you almost try too hard because you want to end it and then it just snowballs. ... We finally rallied and found a way in the last couple innings, which is nice.
The game-winning hit came after the Twins took a one-run lead in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Casilla off left-hander Mark Buehrle to score Jason Repko, who led off the frame with a single, advanced to second on a sac bunt from Revere and reached third on that passed ball.
But the White Sox tied it up in the bottom of the inning, when Pierre was plunked by Perkins and went to second on Ramirez's sac bunt before Paul Konerko was intentionally walked.
Perkins then got Adam Dunn to fly out to right field, and Michael Cuddyer nearly threw out Pierre at third base for the third out, but Pierre just got under the glove of Danny Valencia.
"I thought a big play in the ballgame was when Cuddyer made the catch in right field and threw to third, but Danny wasn't aggressive enough in the tag," Gardenhire said. "He's got to bury that tag in there. I thought we should've got that out."
Nathan was then called in to pitch on back-to-back days for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He said "everything felt good," but he left a fastball up to Quentin, who brought home Pierre with a single.
"It was a 1-2 pitch to Quentin and I tried to ride a fastball up a little bit, but it's just a game of inches," Nathan said. "If it is maybe two inches higher, it's a good pitch. But I still think it was a decent pitch. He just fought it off, and he's a strong enough guy to take it off the hands and serve it into the field."
Chicago's rally spoiled a solid start from left-hander Brian Duensing, who allowed just two runs on five hits and a walk over seven innings. Duensing was able to bounce back after a shaky start, as he surrendered a solo homer to Ramirez in the first inning on just his eighth pitch of the afternoon.
"Early, I left that ball up to Ramirez in that first inning, and I wasn't sure if he quite got it, but he did," Duensing said. "But the whole game, I thought, was well played on both sides. We did our best to get runners on, and Buehrle works fast, and kept our hitters off balance. So we were able to scratch across a couple runs, but at the same time, they were doing the same thing."
The Twins took the lead in the third inning by utilizing small ball, starting when Luke Hughes reached on an error by third baseman Brent Morel. Tsuyoshi Nishioka reached on a bunt single and Repko added a sacrifice bunt. Revere then brought home the first run with an RBI single before Casilla singled on a high bouncer into left field to score Nishioka.
The White Sox later tied it up in the sixth inning. Pierre and Ramirez hit back-to-back bloop singles, allowing Pierre to score on a sacrifice fly from Konerko.
It was simply a back-and-forth game that was ultimately won by the White Sox, who are still just 8-30 against the Twins over the last 38 meetings, and had lost the first two games of the four-game series in Chicago.
"It would be real nice to win tomorrow and come in and win three out of four to win the series," Duensing said. "They're a good team all the way around. So if we can get a win tomorrow, that would be huge, especially coming into the All-Star break."
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