Twins 9, White Sox 3
Joe Mauer belted a three-run, inside-the-park homer and the Minnesota Twins extended their AL Central lead over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday with another 9-3 win.
The Twins won Tuesday’s series opener by the same score.
Minnesota (87-58) has all but clinched the division, opening up an eight-game lead on the White Sox with Thursday as the last remaining head-to-head meeting of the season.
Carlos Quentin launched a two-run homer for Chicago off Twins starter Brian Duensing. They were the only runs Duensing (9-2) allowed in six innings to improve to 6-1 since joining the rotation in July.
The Twins pounded White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (10-13) for six runs in 5 1/3 innings. They scored three runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, highlighted by Mauer’s homer in the fifth and Jim Thome’s two-run single in the seventh.
Mauer scored a pair of runs and had three hits to raise his average to .330. The homer was his ninth of the season.