Peavy pitches White Sox pastTwins

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox engaged in a hard-fought pitchers' duel at Target Field on Tuesday, and Chicago starter Jake Peavy proved to be the better hurler, leading his team to a 4-2 win.

Peavy pitched seven strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits, walking none and striking out six.

"I think he's got a little more velocity," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Peavy, who had surgery on his right shoulder in 2010. "He's further removed from surgery, so he's just strong. He has more belief -- he doesn't have any hesitation of letting it go. He's pitching free."

He had help from his offense -- which banged out 12 hits, including two home runs. He also got solid defense, which had only one error -- when a throw to first broke through the webbing of Adam Dunn's glove.

Twins starter Kevin Correia, who gave up those two long balls, pitched well but lived on the edge all game long. He lasted 100 pitches while pitching into the eighth inning and gave up three runs on nine hits, a walk and two strikeouts.

"I just made a couple mistakes in that inning," Correia said. "Dunn's wasn't too terrible of a pitch; it was probably more pitch selection. And I threw a bad pitch on the next home run. I did a good job getting out of a trouble; it was just a couple of mistakes. And when you are going against a guy like Peavy, you don't have much room."

Correia was aided by good defense that turned four double plays and often bailed him out of trouble.

The Twins put together only five hits, but two big ones came in the seventh when Josh Willingham led off the inning with a double and scored on Trevor Plouffe's two-out single to tie the game at 2-2.

The Sox came back in the eighth with doubles by Dewayne Wise and Tyler Flowers to retake the lead, 3-2. Flowers then scored on Alexei Ramirez's single, and the game began to slip away from Minnesota.

"It's nice when the bottom half of the order moves the ball around a little bit," Ventura said. "It's nice to get homers, but you are going to have to win games like that where you get a couple hits and move guys around. That's what you want to see: guys doing the smaller things to help you win."

Closer Addison Reed came on in the ninth to shut down a minor Twins threat and get the save -- his 12th of the season.

As in Monday night's game, the White Sox struck first. Dunn, who was robbed of a home run by the Twins in the previous game, hit his seventh home run of the season in the second inning. Dayan Viciedo followed suit two pitches later for the team's first back-to-back homers of the season.

"The last couple days he's swung it pretty good," Ventura said of Dunn. "When you get one taken away, the way it's been going, it's tough, but he made sure tonight."

Correia scattered five hits in the early going, but two of them went over the fence. He got help from his infield, which turned three double plays in the first four innings.

"(Brian Dozier and Pedro Florimon) are playing really well out there," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They work together an awful lot, making a lot of plays on some hard-hit balls. That's what you want from a ground-ball pitcher. He was getting ground balls and we made some really nice plays. That's what we expect.

The White Sox turned one of their own, helping Peavy erase Joe Mauer's hit and face only the minimum 12 batters in the first four innings.

In the fifth, Twins first baseman Justin Morneau led off with a double, and miraculously scored on Oswaldo Arcia's hit to right. It appeared that catcher Flowers tagged Morneau as he slid past the plate, but no call was made. Morneau scrambled back to the plate and was called safe as Flowers had already begun arguing the call.

"If (the umpire) doesn't see it, he doesn't see it," Ventura said. "There's nothing you can do about it."

NOTES: The thermometer hit 92 degrees for the first time this season at Target Field. ... The White Sox have committed an error in six consecutive games (nine total) and rank third in the majors with 30 errors this season. Tuesday's error was due to a broken glove. ... Coming into the game, Peavy was 1-4 with a 1.57 ERA in five starts at Target Field. ... Mauer leads baseball with a .465 average in May.