What began as a promising start for Kevin Slowey, ended in disaster as a rough 5th inning erased any chance for a Minnesota victory. As a result, the Twins lost 6-2.
Both of the Twins runs came in the top of the 5th when Brendan Harris drew a walk and Adam Everett singled, then Matt Tolbert and Joe Mauer hit back-to-back RBI singles to put the Twins ahead 2-0. It was a breakthrough, as they had not been able to do much against White Sox starter John Danks. That was pretty much all the offense of the game, as the only Twins to do anything else was Michael Cuddyer, who stole two bases. The White Sox bullpen clamped down any chance of a Minnesota comeback.
Back from the DL, Slowey was cruising, retiring 12 of the first 13 batters he faced, until he hit a wall in the bottom of the 5th. However, when Jermaine Dye led off the inning with a solo shot, it all started to come undone. Two batters later he gave up a 2 run homer. There was some excitement however, when Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected for arguing a checked swing call on Paul Konerko in the 6th inning. The call led to some confusion that allowed the Sox to pull off a double steal and have runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.
More importantly then this loss sealing the series loss for the Twins was that it revealed the Twins greatest weakness; their inconsistency. The team has the ability to put together consistent streaks of production, they just have not been able to so far. Stymied in the first game of the series, they erupted offensively in the second game but fell back to earth tonight.
