Chicago 6, Minnesota 2: P.J. Walters' Return to Rotation Ruined by Alex Rios

While P.J. Walters may have been initially excited to return to the rotation for today's game, that attitude probably changed quickly, as he started off the bottom of the first inning with a Dewayne Wise single (and subsequently, a Dewayne Wise steal of second base), a walk to Kevin Youkilis, a walk to Adam Dunn, and then, after a Konerko popout, a grand slam given up to Alex Rios. White Sox-4, Twins-0. Chicago would not relinquish the lead, and the only other runs they'd score would also come off the bat of Rios.

To his credit, Walters did end up keeping the White Sox quiet for the next 5 innings, but in the bottom of the 6th, once again facing Alex Rios, Walters gave up a 2-run home run, giving the White Sox a 6-1 lead that wouldn't get any closer until the Twins scored one run in the top of the 9th inning.

The Twins offense today was clearly not as potent as in last night's game, with the team only managing 8 hits total and only drawing one walk. Walters alone, for comparison, gave up 5 hits and 3 walks. Not a pretty day for the offense, but after last night's hit parade, I guess we can't ask too much. The Twins first run came in the top of the third inning, on an Eduardo Escobar sac fly to score Matt Carson. Their lone other run came in the top of the ninth on a Matt Carson sac fly to score Ryan Doumit. That was pretty much all that was written for the Twins offense today, sadly.

Notes and studs & duds after the jump.

Final Lines
P.J. Walters - 5 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
Alex Burnett - .2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Brian Duensing - 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Jared Burton - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Twins Offense - 32 AB, 2 R, 8 H, 1 BB, 5 SO, 14 LOB, .263 BA
Team RISP - 2-for-8

Studs
-Eduardo Escobar, RBI machine.
-Matt Carson, other RBI machine.

Duds
-P.J. Walters. Ouch.
-Alex Rios...probably not a dud for the White Sox, but alas.

Up Next: The Twins have an off day tomorrow, and return to playing baseball on Friday at home against the Cleveland Indians. The game starts at 7:10 pm CST, and will feature Liam Hendriks starting for the Twins, and Jeanmar Gomez for the Indians. Be there or be...something. Go Twins!