Tuesday American League Capsule.
October 1st, 2008 Posted in MLB baseball newsTuesday American League Capsule.
CHI WHITE SOX 1, MINNESOTA 0
CHICAGO Thanks to Jim Thome and John Danks, the Chicago White Sox will join their crosstown rivals in October for first time in 102 years.
Thome snapped a scoreless tie with a mammoth homer in the seventh inning as the White Sox clinched the American League Central Division title with a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Danks (12-9) hurled eight dominant innings for Chicago, which will face the Tampa Bay Rays in Game One of the best-of-five AL Division Series on Thursday. The lefthander allowed just two hits while striking out four and walking three.
Bobby Jenks tossed a perfect ninth for his 30th save.
The White Sox, who earned a berth in the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005, won with their backs against the wall Sunday over Cleveland and again in a make-up game against Detroit on Monday for the right to play in this one. With Tuesdays triumph, it marks the first time since 1906 both the White Sox and Chicago Cubs are in the postseason.
In breaking up the pitchers duel, Thome slammed a towering blast to center field off Nick Blackburn that landed on the concourse well beyond the wall. Blackburn (11-11) allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out three and walking three.
Blackburn, who surrendered nine runs in nine innings at U.S. Cellular Field during two regular-season losses, had allowed just two hits until Thomes home run.
Jose Mijares relieved Blackburn following a one-out double by Ken Griffey Jr. and an intentional walk to Alexei Ramirez in the seventh. Mijares escaped the jam by getting A.J. Pierzynski to ground to first and Juan Uribe to fly out to left.
Pitching on three days rest after being shelled by the Indians on September 26, Danks faced more than three hitters in an inning just twice, benefiting from three double plays.
Danks, who threw 103 pitches, was so dominant, he had AL batting champion Joe Mauer trying to bunt for a hit to lead off the seventh. Catcher Pierzynski threw out Mauer easily at first after a nicely placed bunt.
Jenks, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, took the loss when the Twins completed a three-game sweep of the White Sox to take a one-half game lead in the division on September 25. In this one, he struck out pinch hitter Jason Kubel, got Denard Span on a bouncer to first baseman Nick Swisher and got help from center fielder Brian Anderson, who made a diving catch on Alexi Casillas shallow fly to right-center.
The closest anyone came to scoring before Thomes home run was when Michael Cuddyer led off the fifth inning with a double that rolled to the wall in left for the first hit off Danks. Cuddyer advanced to third when the next batter, Delmon Young, flew out to Griffey in center.
But Griffey then threw out Cuddyer after catching Brendan Harris fly ball. Pierzynski reached to his left for the one-hop throw and managed to keep the ball in his mitt as he was plowed into by Cuddyer for the inning-ending double play.
A former member of the Twins, Pierzynski then got up and showed the ball to Cuddyer. It symbolized the end of a good run for Minnesota, which finished its surprising season on a sour note.
The Twins were not expected to be a contender after parting ways with center fielder Torii Hunter and ace Johan Santana last winter.
Tuesdays contest was the fourth one-game playoff in AL history, with the most recent seeing the Seattle Mariners capture the AL West title with a 9-1 triumph over the California Angels in 1995. The Colorado Rockies posted a 9-8 victory over the San Diego Padres in 13 innings in a National League tiebreaker last season.
