Dozier goes deep twice as Twins win series in Chicaco

CHICAGO – Brian Dozier provided full service for the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.
The Twins second basemen went 2-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs in an 8-1 win over the Chicago White Sox that gave Minnesota a series victory.
“He started and finished our offense today,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “He got the first and finished our offense today. He got the first and got the last three. In between we had a real nice (fourth) inning ... A lot of guys contributed and we spread it the wealth.”
The Twins second baseman had his second career multi-homer performance, leading off the game with a solo home run in the first and adding a three-run shot in the seventh.
The effort helped make a winner of right-hander Kyle Gibson (4-3), who scattered four hits and tied a career high with eight strikeouts while walking none over eight innings as Minnesota won its second straight and took two of three from Chicago.
“Any time you take the mound with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first it’s not a bad thing,” Gibson said. “He (Dozier) has been swinging the bat really well as have most of the guys in here.”
The White Sox had two early fly balls but couldn’t produce much more than grounders after that.
“Early on I’ve been trying to use my four-seamer a lot more to give hitters a different look and try to make that two pitches where one’s straight and one’s sinking,” Gibson said. “Fastball command was the thing that kind of helped me get through the day.”
White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana (2-5) suffered his second straight loss and third in four starts. The White Sox dropped their second in a row and have now lost five of their last six.
“He had good stuff, but you start getting out of the zone fastball-wise, these guys can hit fastballs,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.
Dozier gave the Twins an early 1-0 lead when he launched Quintana’s second pitch to left field for his eighth home run of the season. It was Dozier’s ninth career leadoff home run and second this season.
The Twins hit Quintana for four more runs in the fourth, including two with none out. Left fielder Shane Robinson doubled to right to lead off and scored on White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton’s error on a liner from first baseman Joe Mauer.
Eaton was also trying to keep an eye on a runner as the ball skipped past him to the center-field wall.
“I won’t be lying to you if my eyes weren’t wandering a little bit,” Eaton said. “I’ve made that play 100 times and whatever happens with that ball it didn’t find my mitt. I didn’t make the play.”
MIN ab r h bi CHW ab r h bi
Dozier 2b 5 2 2 4 Eaton cf 4 0 1 0
Robnson lf 5 1 1 0 Cabrera lf 4 0 0 0
Mauer 1b 5 1 0 0 Abreu dh 4 1 1 1
Plouffe 3b 4 1 2 0 LaRoche 1b 3 0 0 0
Hunter dh 3 1 1 1 Soto ph 1 0 0 0
Escobar ss 4 0 0 0 Garcia rf 2 0 1 0
Hrrmann c 3 0 0 0 Shuck ph 0 0 0 0
Rosario rf 4 1 2 2 Gillspi 3b 3 0 1 0
Hicks cf 4 1 1 0 Ramirez ss 3 0 0 0
Flowers c 3 0 0 0
Sanchez 2b 3 0 0 0
Totals 37 8 9 7 Totals 30 1 4 1
Minnesota 100 400 300 - 8
Chi. White Sox 000 100 000 - 1
E-Eaton 1. LOB-Chicago 3, Minnesota 4. 2B-Plouffe (8), S.Robinson (2). HR-Abreu (7), Dozier 2 (9).
IP H R ER BB SO
Minnesota
Gibson W, 4-3 8 4 1 1 0 8
Duensing 1 0 0 0 0 0
Chi. White Sox
Quintana L, 2-5 6 7 7 6 1 5
Carroll 1 2 1 1 1 0
Da.Jennings 2 0 0 0 0 2
Inherited runners-scored-Carroll 2-2. HBP-Shuck (by Gibson).
Umpires-Home, Adam Hamari; First, Adrian Johnson; Second, Bill Miller; Third, Doug Eddings.
T-2:37. A-30,180 (41,432)