Twins sweep Pale Hose

8/12 - HHH Metrodome - Twins 1, White Sox 0
Classic pitcher's duel between aces Frank Viola and Jim Kaat. The game was scoreless until the 6th when Kaat got into trouble. Jimenez led off with a walk and Meier followed with a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Kirby Puckett fanned and Kent Hrbek lifted a soft fly to left for the second out. Kaat got Hatcher to hit a slow roller to third, which Melton booted to allow the bases to be jammed. Tim Teufel worked out a walk and the Twins scored their lone run of the game, which Viola would make stand up. At no point during the game did the Chisox have a runner advance past 2nd. By the 8th inning Chicago was willing to try to make things happen. Brian Downing led off with a walk, but was gunned down trying to steal second. In the 9th Jerry Hairston walked with 1 out and was also gunned down by Twin catcher Dave Engle. Both Viola and Kaat scattered 3 hits. Kaat wound up on the wrong side of the ledger thanks to the unearned run in the 6th and his wildness.

8/13 - HHH Metrodome - Twins 6, White Sox 4
Pitching dominance continued until the 4th when the Chisox had a huge 4 run inning off of Mike Smithson. Dick Allen hit a 3 run shot scoring Tony Muser, who doubled, and Ken Henderson who had walked. Two batters later Carlos May hit a solo shot to stake Wilbur Wood to a 4-0 lead. Wood gave back half of his lead in the bottom of the inning when Tom Brunansky his a 2 run shot with 2 outs. Wood would give it all away in the following inning when the Twins scored 4 to take a 6-4 lead that they would never relinquish. After RBI singles by Meier and Pucket, Kent Hrbek hit a 2 run shot to break the 4-4 tie. Smithson went the distance and did not allow another run the rest of the way. Wood didn't make it out of the 5th and Cy Acosta came on board and pitched 3+ shutout innings in relief.

8/14 - Comiskey Park - Twins 6, White Sox 0
John Butcher (8 innings) and Ron Davis (1 inning) combined to shutout the Pale Hose. Bart Johnson offered up one of those so called "quality starts", by going 5 and giving up 3. With the lack of offense that the White Sox have been showing just giving up 1 run for a pitcher could be the kiss of death. Johnson battled all afternoon, but he tired by the 6th and he conspired with Skip Pitlock and Bill Moran to yield 5 runs and let the Twinkies blow it open. Randy Bush's solo shot in the 2nd was the lone run on the board until the fateful 6th, where the first 5 Twin batters reached base safely before out #1 was recorded. Both Tom Brunansky and catcher Dave Engle had 2 run doubles in the frame. The victory gave the Twins a sweep of this opening series.