AP Photo/Genevieve Ross

Chicago White Sox pitcher Zach Stewart throws to the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, in Minneapolis.

Zach Stewart threw six sharp innings in his White Sox debut, Paul Konerko drove in two runs and Brent Lillibridge added a late two-run homer as Chicago beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 on Saturday night.
The White Sox secured the first series win against their division rivals since 2009, and first in Minnesota since 2007 by taking the first two games of the weekend series.
Stewart (1-1) was called up from Triple-A Charlotte less than 24 hours before his fourth career major league start. Jake Peavy was originally scheduled to pitch opposite Carl Pavano (6-9), but the White Sox bumped the veteran right-hander to Sunday to make room for the 24-year-old Stewart.
He didn’t disappoint.
Acquired in a four-player trade from Toronto on July 27, Stewart gave up eight hits over 6 1-3 innings with two strikeouts and a walk.
Pavano surrendered nine hits and two runs — one unearned — over eight innings with five strikeouts. But the Twins’ bats came up mostly empty against Stewart.
Stewart breezed through his first four innings and handled his first challenge in the fifth with great poise. Facing Joe Mauer with runners on second and third with two outs, he struck out the two-time AL batting champion to end the threat.
Chicago clung to a 2-1 lead before breaking it open in the ninth. Alejandro De Aza scored after a wild pitch by Joe Nathan and a throwing error by catcher Drew Butera. Konerko singled in Juan Pierre, and Lillibridge — pinch hitting for the struggling Adam Dunn — sent a 2-0 fastball from Nathan into the left-field stands to send the fans packing.
Chris Sale and Jason Frasor pitched 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief and Sergio Santos pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Twins scored their only run in the sixth when Danny Valenica drove in Jason Kubel to make it 2-1 and put runners at the corners with one out. But Delmon Young hit into a double play to get Stewart out of the inning.
Mauer went 0 for 4 and is now 3 for 21 (.143) this season with two outs and runners in scoring position.
NOTES: Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said 1B Justin Morneau (neck) felt good after Friday night’s rehab stint with Triple-A Rochester. Morneau played again Saturday night, and is expected to play at least a week at Rochester before the Twins consider activating him. Gardenhire also said he expects to activate INF Alexi Casilla from the DL as soon as he’s eligible in a week. … Alex Rios went 3 for 5 for his first multihit game since July 19. … Matt Tolbert started at SS for Minnesota in place of Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who committed two fielding gaffes Friday night. Gardenhire shrugged the move off as simply giving the rookie from Japan a regular break. “Physical errors happen,” Gardenhire said. … The White Sox and Twins wrap up their three-game series on Sunday when Peavy takes the mound against Brian Duensing. Duensing makes his 22nd start of the season for Minnesota, but only his second career start against the White Sox. He’s 8-9 with a 4.5 ERA in 2011.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Scott Sizemore hit a three-run double in the fifth inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins 8-3 on Saturday night.

Hideki Matsui singled twice and reached five times for the A’s, who snapped a three-game losing streak to the Twins. Matsui is batting a major league-best .473 since the All-Star break.

Oakland also got three hits from Conor Jackson and two from Coco Crisp, who is being mentioned in trade rumors as today’s non-waiver deadline approaches. Cliff Pennington extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games and scored the go-ahead run in the second.

Jim Thome had two hits and an RBI for Minnesota, which missed an opportunity to gain ground on AL Central-leading Detroit. The Tigers lost 5-1 to the Los Angeles Angels.

Oakland also was working Saturday night to finalize a trade that would send right-hander Rich Harden to the Boston Red Sox. Neither team had made a formal announcement ahead of today’s 3 p.m. CDT non-waiver trade deadline.

The oft-injured Harden is 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA in five starts since coming off the 60-day disabled on July 1. He has been mentioned in trade talks for several weeks and could help bolster the Red Sox rotation with Clay Buchholz on the disabled list.

Guillermo Moscoso survived a shaky start to pitch 6Zc effective innings against Minnesota, winning for only the second time in his last 11 starts after opening his season with back-to-back wins over the Angels and Orioles.

Moscoso (4-5) allowed two runs – both coming in the first inning – and seven hits. The rookie right-hander retired 14 of 16 during one stretch and left with a 7-2 lead.

Brad Ziegler, Grant Balfour and Andrew Bailey completed the eight-hitter for the A’s.

Nick Blackburn (7-8) struggled again for Minnesota, charged with seven runs, six earned, and 10 hits in 4Zc innings. The right-hander walked five and struck out two.

Blackburn also started the Twins’ 20-6 loss to Texas last Monday and was tagged for nine runs in 2Xc innings.

Crisp, who singled and scored in the first, made it 8-2 when he scored on a passed ball in the sixth.

Matsui, Oakland’s biggest offseason acquisition, hit .209 in the first half but has been on a tear since the break. He walked in his first two plate appearances, singled and scored in the fifth and reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth.

Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI single in the first for Minnesota, winning a nine-pitch battle with Moscoso. Thome doubled and scored on Delmon Young’s single to make it 2-1 in the second.

Oakland pushed across two runs in the bottom half to take the lead for good. Jemile Weeks drove in Pennington with a triple, making it 3-2.

Minnesota Oakland

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Revere cf 4 1 1 0 JWeeks 2b 5 0 1 1

Plouffe 2b 4 0 0 0 Crisp cf 3 2 2 0

Mauer c 4 0 0 0 Matsui lf 3 1 2 0

Cuddyr 1b 4 1 1 1 Wlngh dh 4 1 1 1

Kubel rf 4 0 1 0 DeJess rf 1 0 0 0

Thome dh 4 1 2 1 Swny ph-rf 4 1 1 1

Tolbert pr 0 0 0 0 CJcksn 1b 4 1 3 0

Valenci 3b 4 0 1 0 Pnngtn ss 3 2 1 0

DYong lf 3 0 1 1 SSizmr 3b 3 0 1 3

Nishiok ss 3 0 1 0 Powell c 4 0 0 0

Totals 34 3 8 3 Totals 34 8 12 6

Minnesota 110 000 001— 3

Oakland 120 041 00x— 8

E—Mauer (2), Pennington (15). DP—Minnesota 1, Oakland 1. LOB—Minnesota 5, Oakland 9. 2B—Thome (9), Willingham (16), C.Jackson (14), Pennington (14), S.Sizemore (8). 3B—J.Weeks (5). SB—Revere (18), Crisp 2 (29). SF—Willingham.

IP H R ER BB SO

Minnesota

Blackburn L,7-8 4Zc 10 7 6 5 2

Swarzak 2Xc 1 1 0 1 4

Mijares 1 1 0 0 0 0

Oakland

Moscoso W,4-5 6Zc 7 2 2 1 2

Ziegler Xc 0 0 0 0 1

Balfour 1 0 0 0 0 0

A.Bailey 1 1 1 0 0 1

PB—Mauer.

T—2:56. A—19,605 (35,067).

Tags:
sports, twins, baseball

Former All-Star Joe Nathan will take over the closer’s job for the Minnesota Twins, replacing the struggling Matt Capps.

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire announced the switch before Saturday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.

“Kind of do a flip-flop, try to get Capps going again earlier in the ballgame and then let Nathan finish off a few here,” Gardenhire said.

Capps blew his seventh save chance in 22 tries on Friday night, giving up a two-run homer in the ninth inning to Royals rookie Eric Hosmer in a 2-1 loss. Capps is tied with Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs for the most blown saves in the majors.

After back-to-back uneventful saves in Chicago before the All-Star break, Capps struggled again at home. In his last four appearances at Target Field, Capps has blown two saves, allowing 11 hits, seven earned runs, two walks and two homers in just 22/3 innings.

“Disappointed is a very good way to put it,” Capps said. “But it is what it is. That’s about all I’m going to say, I guess.”

Nathan returns to his familiar role at the end of Minnesota’s bullpen. He has 250 career saves for the Twins, second most in team history.

“To be back in this role is good,” Nathan said. “It’s where I want to be.”

Guillen returns after missing 11 months

Eleven months to the day since he last played in a major-league game, Carlos Guillen finally returned to the field for the Detroit Tigers.

He started at second base Saturday with his team in the middle of a playoff race. The Tigers hope the 35-year-old can provide a boost at a position where nobody has excelled this season.

Guillen hadn’t played since Aug. 16, when a runner slid into him while he was trying to turn a double play, injuring his left knee.

Hardy, Orioles agree to 3-year contract

The Baltimore Orioles and shortstop J.J. Hardy agreed to a three-year contract Saturday, a deal that almost certainly assures he won’t be going anywhere before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

“That’s a big part of the whole contract, that I know I’m going to be here for three years,” Hardy said before the Orioles faced Cleveland on Saturday night.

The deal cannot be finalized until Hardy passes a physical. He reportedly will receive around $22 million, and the contract includes a partial no-trade clause.

Elsewhere

BLUE JAYS: Third baseman Jose Bautista missed his second straight game because of a right ankle injury.

Bautista, who wore a walking boot Saturday, has been receiving treatment after sliding into third base Thursday.

RED SOX: Boston placed reliever Bobby Jenks on the 15-day disabled list because of a back injury. The team called up left-hander Randy Williams from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Minnesota Twins lefthanded pitcher Francisco Liriano says his shoulder feels better after missing Saturday’s start because of some soreness, but the big test will come Tuesday in Detroit when he is scheduled to throw in the bullpen, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

If that session goes well and he reports no problems the next day, he will start Thursday in Kansas City.

If Liriano has any issues, the newspaper reported, righthander Anthony Swarzak would start and Liriano could land on the disabled list.

“He feels better, and that’s a good thing,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, according to the Star Tribune. “It sounds like he’ll be able to go out there and throw. But if it comes up that he’s having issues out there (the DL) would be something we would (consider). Back him off and give him a couple of weeks to regroup.”

Liriano, 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA, came down with shoulder soreness last week, prompting the Twins to use Swarzak on Saturday, when he tossed a one-hitter against the Angels. The Twins are convinced Liriano’s soreness is minor and a precautionary MRI exam confirmed that.

“He seemed to think he was going to be OK,” Gardenhire said.