Dye, White Sox slam Twins

Hey, look, a winning streak.

With their 7-4 victory over the reeling Twins on Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox have won consecutive games for the first time since April 29-May 1.

Maybe that explains why the mood in the postgame clubhouse was reserved instead of raucous.

"We know this a big homestand for us and we need to play well," said right fielder Jermaine Dye, who capped the Sox' 7-run fourth inning with a grand slam off Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano. "We just need to find a way to win and hopefully sooner or later things will turn around."

Looking like a team already playing out the string while going 1-6 on a road trip to Cleveland and Toronto before returning home to face the Twins and the Pittsburgh Pirates, at least the White Sox are starting to show some signs of life.

"I liked what I saw, but we only scored in one inning," manager Ozzie Guillen said after the Sox handed Minnesota its sixth straight loss. "I'm a positive guy and I think the bats better, without a doubt.

"You will go through tough times in this game, and the only way to survive is to keep your head up, survive when you're not playing well and kick butt when you are playing well."

White Sox starter John Danks was borderline brutal in his last four outings, going 0-3 with an 8.84 ERA.

The left-hander wasn't great against the Twins, allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks over 52/3 innings. But it was god enough to earn Danks (3-3) his first win since April 22.

"It feels really good to give us a chance to win," Danks said. "I felt really comfortable, and the offense bailed me out. Hopefully I can get more consistent and get back to where I was."

Maybe the Sox will follow suit.

"I expect a lot better this week," Guillen said. "This is an important week for us. We play against Minnesota, then we play against Pittsburgh. To come back home and play like we did (Tuesday), it makes you feel back on track. We're not there yet, but we feel that way.

"We had a real bad road trip and hopefully we have the confidence back. I think the players start to feel we can win games."

General manager Kenny Williams said he won't start worrying about the Sox (17-22) until the season moves into June.

"I don't know what we are in the standings," Williams said. "It's not until we play 60 games that I really start to pay attention. I don't read the papers. I don't know. I know we have not won at a clip that's acceptable enough."

Scot Gregor's game tracker

Wednesday's grade: B. One big inning (7 runs on 6 hits) was more than enough support for starter John Danks.

Konerko keeps rolling: Paul Konerko pulled the White Sox into a tie with a 2-run homer in the fourth inning. He has a nine-game hitting streak and is batting .406 with 3 HR and 6 RBI over that stretch.

Thanks for the help: The Sox scored 7 runs for Danks vs. the Twins. In his pervious 7 starts, Danks got just 12 runs.

On tap: Bartolo Colon returns to the mound after making an early exit in his last start, at Toronto on Saturday. After pitching 5 scoreless innings vs. the Jays, Colon left with an upset stomach.

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