Pavano wins duel with Buehrle

MINNEAPOLIS - Outside of the second inning, White Sox starter Mark Buehrle was brilliant against the Twins Saturday night at Target Field.

But Minnesota starter Carl Pavano was just a little better, and that was the difference in the 3-2 final score.

"Yeah, that's one thing you want to try and do, stay out of a big inning," Buehrle said after allowing 3 runs on 9 hits in 8 innings. "That's what you call a couple bloops and a blast. They put two balls in play that just found the hole and they just crushed two balls. You get down too many runs early and it's tough to come back."

In the second inning, the Twins' Michael Cuddyer led off with a ground-rule double to right field that just stayed fair. Cuddyer scored on Delmon Young's bloop single to center.

Jason Kubel followed with a run-scoring triple and scored on Danny Valencia's double.

"Buehrle pitched very well," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "That's the kind of ballgame you like to see. Those guys went out and battled. Pavano did a tremendous job. Pavy kept us from doing anything. We chased a lot of bad pitches. We had an opportunity to get it done and we couldn't get it through."

The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Alex Rios doubled with two outs and scored on Paul Konerko's single.

In the fourth, Konerko made it a 3-2 game with a solo home run off Pavano.

But in the ninth inning, Omar Vizquel led off with a double against Pavano, and Rios' groundout to second base moved pinch runner Brent Lillibridge to third.

Pavano struck out Konerko on three pitches and got Carlos Quentin to ground out to end the fast-paced game (1 hour, 52 minutes).

"He's thrown some good games against us, even when he was with Cleveland," Konerko said of Pavano. "But tonight was obviously as good as he gets. It was a good pitcher's duel. You just have to tip your hat to him. He made a couple mistakes, but other than that his location and command was good all night."

As for Konerko's final at-bat, he was no match for Pavano's changeup.

"I felt good," Konerko said. "I had a couple of good swings off him but that last at-bat he just beat me. I wouldn't do anything different. He just beat me and that's that."

Get real: "The Club," a reality show featuring the White Sox, debuts Sunday night at 8 p.m. (Chicago time) on MLB Network.

Manager Ozzie Guillen, GM Kenny Williams and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf are the featured attractions, but there is an emotional scene in the first episode featuring relief pitcher Sergio Santos.

A struggling infielder in the minor leagues, Santos became a pitcher at the start of the 2009 season and he won a bullpen job with the Sox in spring training.

"The Club" has footage of the teary-eyed Santos getting the news he made the White Sox' roster in training camp.

"I haven't seen it yet, but I heard about it," Santos said. "It was a really emotional moment for me, something I'll never forget."