Anderson pushes White Sox over Twins 13-11 in 12 innings

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - White Sox manager Robin Ventura approached Jose Abreu at his locker following Sunday's tight victory over the Twins, and the two shared a joke.

It was a moment of levity at the end of a stressful day.

Abreu hit two three-run homers and drove in a career-best seven runs, and Chicago used Tim Anderson's two-run double in the 12th inning to beat Minnesota 13-11 for a split of their four-game series.

"I will say that this is my best moment of this season," Abreu said.

Abreu, Anderson and Melky Cabrera had three hits apiece, helping the White Sox overcome four homers for Minnesota. The teams combined for 18 homers in the series.

Abreu fell one shy of the franchise record of eight RBIs in a game, a mark shared by three people, including Ventura.

"We were joking about the RBIs, our record that he owns," Abreu said through a translator. "I was one short, but we were all joking about it."

While Abreu delivered another impressive performance, Anderson had the biggest hit of the day. With one out and runners on second and third in the 12th, the rookie doubled to deep left against Pat Dean (1-6).

Juan Minaya (1-0) earned his first major league win. He pitched a scoreless 11th but walked the first two batters in the 12th. Tommy Kahnle then came in and earned his third career save, retiring Eddie Rosario with the bases loaded for the final out.

"I'm not going to tell you what was going through my mind," Ventura said of Minnesota's threat in the 12th. "But they're not easy."

Byron Buxton hit his first career grand slam for Minnesota, and Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano and John Ryan Murphy also went deep. The Twins hit 11 homers in the four-game set.

"To have an offensive day like that, and to really have the guys you want in the game at the end with a chance," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said of the frustrating pitching performance. "I don't know how many of those we've had that would rank up there with that one."

Abreu opened the scoring with a three-run shot in the first. He added an RBI single in the fifth and another three-run drive in the seventh, trimming Minnesota's lead to 9-7.

Abreu is batting .370 with 11 homers and 30 RBIs in his past 31 games.

"He's swinging it, this is what you really expect out of him," Ventura said. "I know that it's pretty free and easy right now. But even the home runs, that's really more indicative of him. Right now he's feeling pretty good about it, sitting in the middle of our lineup driving in some runs."

Buxton had three hits, and Dozier connected for his 35th homer. Sano hit his 22nd and Murphy added his first for the Twins after being recalled a day earlier.

TRAILING ONLY KILLEBREW

Dozier leads the majors with 21 homers since the All-Star break. He has the most home runs of any Twins player since Josh Willingham also hit 35 in 2012.

Only Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew has hit more homers in a single season in Twins history.

"Don't be putting me in Killebrew's, in a sentence with him," Dozier said. "That's pretty cool. We've still got a little ways to go, but that's pretty cool."

UP NEXT

White Sox: Chris Sale (15-7, 3.10 ERA) starts Monday against the Detroit Tigers, who counter with Justin Verlander (14-7, 3.30 ERA). Sale is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings in four starts against Detroit this season. Verlander has allowed more than two runs just once in his past 12 starts.

Twins: Molitor said rookie right-hander Jose Berrios (2-4, 9.24 ERA) will be called up to start Monday against Kansas City. The Royals counter with RHP Ian Kennedy (9-9, 3.66 ERA).