Twins pound Buehrle in 13-7 win over Sox

Posted July 12, 2009 11:00 pm

Scot Gregor

The White Sox were set up for a sweet all-star break Sunday.

Holding on for a big 8-7 win over the rival Twins the night before, the Sox had momentum and ace Mark Buehrle on the mound in the final game of the first half.

Entering the game with a 3-0 record and 2.25 ERA over his last 4 starts, Buehrle, the White Sox' lone all-star, looked decidedly below average during a 13-7 loss at the Metrodome.

In his shortest start of the season, Buehrle (9-3) lasted 31/3 innings and allowed 8 runs on 10 hits.

"I think I threw five pitches where I wanted and I think three of them got hit," Buehrle told reporters before heading off for Tuesday's All-Star Game in his hometown of St. Louis. "It was one of those days where everything was cutting when I wanted it to sink. Even when I was throwing warmup pitches, I threw a changeup and it was cutting on me. It was one of those days where I didn't have my good stuff."

Buehrle was 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 2 starts against Minnesota this season, but they both came at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Twins have always been a much tougher opponent on their home turf, and that was the case again Sunday as they beat the Sox for the 11th time in the last 13 games in the Metrodome.

Denard Span hit a leadoff home run off Buehrle in the first inning, and Carlos Gomez's 3-run homer and Brendan Harris' RBI double in the second made it 5-0.

Harris' 2-run homer in the fourth ended Buehrle's afternoon.

"(Buehrle) left some balls up today and we put some good swings on it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters. "You don't see that too often against that guy."

Sox manager Ozzie Guillen agreed.

"This year, I don't remember seeing Buehrle have trouble like he did today," Guillen said. "He had trouble against the wrong team in the wrong place."

To their credit, the White Sox rallied back after falling behind 8-1.

The biggest push came in the sixth inning, when Jim Thome hit his 555th career home run, a 3-run shot off Twins starter Scott Baker (7-7).

The Sox added solo runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but Minnesota won by a comfortable margin after scoring 5 runs in the seventh off Aaron Poreda and newcomer Tony Pena.

Scot Gregor's game tracker Sunday's grade: C-. The Sox went down swinging to end the first half, but they couldn't overcome Mark Buehrle's worst start of the season. Finishing kick: After driving in 4 runs the night before, DH Jim Thome hit a 3-run homer Sunday. Tough turf: Rookie third baseman Gordon Beckham made 2 more errors Sunday, raising his season total to 9 in 34 games. Swing and a miss: Twins star Joe Mauer was 0-for-5 and the catcher established a career high with 4 strikeouts.