White Sox draw first blood against Twins

When asked about playing the Twins for the first time this season Tuesday night, White Sox rookie Andrew Vaughn gave a veteran answer.

"We want to win every single game we can," Vaughn said. "It doesn't matter who's on the other side of the field."

That is accurate, but Vaughn wasn't been around the last four seasons, when Minnesota was making the rivalry decidedly ones-sided while going 42-25 versus the Sox with two first-place finishes in the AL Central and two second-place finishes.

Looking to stand up to the Twins this season and take control of the division, the White Sox got off to a good start with a 9-3 win at Guaranteed Rate Field.

With 18 more games to go this season, Tony La Russa isn't putting too much weight on the opener.

"It's way too early," the Sox's manager said. "Whichever way this series goes, it doesn't say anything about what's going to happen in the second half of the season. Just right now, we have something going and the Twins are in our way."

Minnesota dropped to 12-21 with the loss and already trails the first-place White Sox (20-13) by 8 games. The Sox have won four straight and 12 of their last 16.

"I think as long as you get realistic about it, you start building some confidence," La Russa said. "You start understanding how we won those games, just as long as you don't lose an edge. The edge should be you have some confidence thinking we've got a lot of ways to win a game. We have 129 left, you cannot lose the edge because the baseball gods will start slapping you around. This is putting stuff in the bank right now and we've just got to keep investing."

There were some anxious moments early in the game, when Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the second inning and threatened to add more against White Sox starter Dylan Cease in the third and fifth.

Cease held his ground and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 over 5 innings.

"It was kind of a grind," Cease said. "I let it get away from me a little bit. A little erratic there in the middle part of the game but I finished strong, kept them at 3 and the offense picked us up."

While the Twins threatened, the Sox's bats produced.

Yasmani Grandal tied the game in the second inning with a 3-run homer and Jose Abreu put the White Sox in front for good with a 2-run shot in sixth. The Sox have scored 9 runs in three straight games.

With the game tied 3-3 in the sixth inning, Garrett Crochet relieved Matt Foster with runners on first and third and one out. The left-hander got the final two outs and picked up his first major-league win.

"I've been looking forward to this moment for awhile," Crochet said. "It's nice to get it out of the way."