Rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks homered twice and made a home run saving catch as the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox at Target Field Monday night 10-3.  It was their 3rd straight win over Chicago.

TWINS NOTES: ­

· The Twins extended their winning streak against the White Sox to three games, their longest streak against the Sox since winning nine straight September 14, 2010-July 8, 2011.

· The Twins have won five of their last seven games…they are one game over .500 for the third time in their last five days.

· After allowing two runs in the top of the first, the Twins have allowed their opponents to score 39 runs in the first inning this season; entering today, only Houston had allowed more first inning runs in all of baseball with 42…the Twins have allowed their opponents to score the game’s first run in 21 of 35 games played.

· Pedro Hernandez earned his second career win tonight and set a single game career-high with four strikeouts…he did not allow a walk, giving Twins starters just six walks allowed in their last eight games (41.2 IP).

· Joe Mauer (1-for-2) extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games, marking his longest since June 17-July 3, 2012 (also 12)…he is hitting .447 (21-for-47) during the streak…it is the longest current streak in the AL after Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-4 tonight against Houston.

· Justin Morneau (3-for-4) extended his hitting streak to nine straight games and is hitting .417 (15-for-36) in that span…he has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games, batting .358 (24-for-67) in that span…Morneau drove in four runs tonight, giving him 17 this month; he entered today with the most RBI in baseball for the month…the four RBI set a single-game high for the season, his most since August 6, 2012 at Cleveland (also 4).

· Trevor Plouffe (1-for-4) has 10 RBI in his last 11 games (since May 3)…he went 1-for-2 off Sox starter Hector Santiago and is now hitting .400 (10-for-25) against left-handed pitching this season…Plouffe’s third inning double was his 200th career hit.

· Aaron Hicks hit his second career home run in the fourth inning, both have been hit as a right-handed batter…Hicks has hit safely in 13 of his last 18 games.

· Hicks gave the Twins their first player with a two-homer game this season, the previous being Justin Morneau September 9, 2012 vs. Cleveland…it was also Hicks’ first career multi-hit game.

· Hicks became the youngest Twin (at 23 years, 223 days) to record a multi-homer game since Justin Morneau did it August 12, 2004 at Seattle (23 years, 89 days).

· Pedro Florimon recorded his fourth bunt hit…Manny Machado was the only player in baseball with four bunt hits entering today.

· Joe Mauer was intentionally walked in the eighth inning, giving him 99 for his career, tying him with Rod Carew for fourth on the Twins all-time list.

The Minnesota Twins finished off their 6-game homestand with a 2-game winning streak as they beat Texas on Sunday 5-0  behind the 8-inning shutout pitching of Kevin Correia.

TWINS NOTES: ­
· The Twins won the final game in the four-game series against the Rangers to split the series 2-2…Minnesota has split or won each of their last four series and now have a series record of 3-3-2…the Twins are now 4-2 when scoring first, 8-0 when out-hitting an opponent, and 9-4 when scoring more than four runs in a game…the Twins shutout an opponent for the first time this season and first since September 8, 2012 vs. Cleveland (3-0)…Twins pitchers have allowed just two runs in their last 18.0 innings….starters have not allowed a run in 13.0 innings.
· Ron Gardenhire was ejected today in the seventh inning for arguing a force out at third base…it was his first ejection of the season and the 63rd of his career…his last ejection came on August 23, 2012 at Texas…it is the second time in his career he has been ejected by Alfonso Marquez.
· Kevin Correia tossed 8.0 shutout innings in his fifth start of the season…allowed six hits and one walk while striking out two in his third win of the season…Correia is the first player to start his Twins career with five straight quality starts since Ramon Ortiz in 2007…Correia is the first player in Twins history to start his career with five straight outings of at least 7.0 innings…he is the first Twin to start a season with five straight outings of at least 7.0 innings since Carlos Silva in 2005…the 8.0 innings are the most by a Twins starter since Liam Hendriks tossed a complete game on August 27, 2012 vs. Seattle…the 8.0 innings are the most by Correia since tossing 9.0 innings on April 18, 2011 at Cincinnati…the last time Correia tossed at least 8.0 shutout innings was when he tossed a complete game (9.0 IP) shutout on September 25, 2009 at Arizona.
· Justin Morneau hit his second home run of the season with a two-run shot to right field off Alexi Ogando in the sixth inning…both of his home runs this season have come at Target Field, the other on April 13 vs. New York-NL to break up Matt Harvey’s no-hit bid…it was his 206th career home run which is now just one shy of tying Kirby Puckett (207) for fifth on the Twins all-time home run list.
· Jamey Carroll collected the Twins first hit of the game with a single in the third inning…he followed it up with an RBI single in the seventh inning to collect his second RBI of the season…Carroll is a career .371 (33-for-89) hitter against the Rangers with 10 multi-hit games, six RBI, 18 runs and nine walks in 29 games.
· Brian Dozier singled in the seventh inning, driving in the Twins fifth run of the game…it marked the 10th straight game he has reached base safely…has a hit in four straight games and collected his eighth RBI of the season…Dozier is hitting .364 (12-for-33) as the Twins leadoff hitter this season (8 games).
· Aaron Hicks threw out Moreland at first base after a single in the third inning today for his fourth outfield assist of the season…it marks his third straight game with an outfield assist…he is the only AL rookie to have multiple outfield assists and was tied with Arizona’s A.J. Pollack for most OF assists by a MLB rookie coming into today…additionally, the Twins as a team have now collected an outfield assist in five straight games and in six of their last eight games…Hicks singled in the seventh inning to extend his current hit-streak to five games…over the five is hitting .333 (5-for-15) with three RBI…after starting the season 2-for-48 (.042 in 13 games), Hicks is hitting .300 (6-for-20) with a double, four RBI and three walks in his last seven games.

Josh Willingham hit his 4th homer of the year as the Twins beat the Rangers Saturday afternoon at Target Field

7-2.

TWINS NOTES: ­

· The Twins snapped their three-game losing streak, beating the Rangers 7-2…it was their first win against the Rangers at Target Field since June 12, 2011, snapping a five-game losing streak vs. Texas at home…the Twins evened their season record to 10-10 and their record at Target Field to 6-6 with the win…the Twins 10-10 start is the best 20-game start since 2010 (14-6).

· The Twins 37,503 fans in attendance today marks the largest non-Opening Day crowd since August 14, 2012 vs. Detroit (37,544).

· Pedro Hernandez made his second start of the season, tossing 5.0 innings shutout innings…he allowed five hits and one walk while striking out three…the win is his first career win, and the first win by a Twins starter since Kevin Correia in the first game of the double header on April 23 vs. Miami.

· Josh Willingham hit his fourth home run of the season with a two-run shot to left field in the sixth inning…it was his 25th career home run at Target Field, passing Jim Thome for the most all-time (since 2010)…it was his second home run of the series and his second two-run shot of the season…stole his first base of the season in the eighth inning, his first stolen base since September 1, 2012 at Kansas City.

· Eduardo Escobar extended his current hit-streak to five games with a single in the third inning…over the streak is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with a triple and a walk…Escobar leads the Twins with his .483 average, .500 on-base percentage and .690 slugging this season.

· Brian Dozier singled in the sixth inning, marking the ninth straight game he has reached base safely…has a hit in three straight games and collected his seventh RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly in the third inning…Dozier is hitting .345 (10-for-29) as the Twins leadoff hitter this season (7 games).

· Aaron Hicks threw out Cruz attempting to stretch a single into a double in the second inning today for his third outfield assist of the season…it marks his second straight game with an outfield assist…he is the only AL rookie to have multiple outfield assists…additionally, the Twins as a team have now collected an outfield assist in four straight games and in five of their last seven games…Hicks doubled in the eighth inning for his first career extra-base hit, he now has driven in seven runs with seven hits on the season.

Rookie Oswaldo Arcia hit a three run homer in the 9th off of former Twin Joe Nathan, but that’s all the offense the Twins could muster losing 4-3 to the Rangers Friday night at Target Field. It was their 3rd straight loss.

TWINS NOTES: ­

· The Twins lost just their second one-run game this season and their second in-a-row (5-2)…15 of the Twins 19 games have been decided by three runs-or-less.

· The Twins allowed the opponent to score the game’s first run in 15 of 19 games this season…opponents have scored 23 first inning runs off the Twins in 2013.

· Scott Diamond has issued just two walks in 16.2 innings pitched this season…the 12 hits allowed tonight set a single game career-high, passing his previous high of 10, done four times previously…he has posted an ERA of 3.25 (36.0 IP, 13 ER) in his last six starts, dating back to September 23, 2012.

· The first inning stolen base by Elvis Andrus was just the fourth stolen off Twins catchers/pitchers all season…they entered today with a MLB-low three steals allowed, in front of Texas (4).

· Pedro Florimon (1-for-3) has reached base safely in 11 of 14 games this season.

· Twins defense has turned a double play in eight straight games (since April 15) and in 15 of 19 games this season…they now have a total of 21 double plays on the season.

· Aaron Hicks (1-for-3) has hit in each of his last three and in four of his last five games…he has reached base safely in eight straight since April 15, posting an on-base percentage of .444 in that span.

· Twins batters did not walk in a game for the first time since September 22, 2012 at Detroit…they entered today fifth in the AL with 72 walks.

· Oswaldo Arcia hit his second career home run - both three run shots…it was the Twins first ninth inning homer all season (13 in 2012)…it was the first ninth inning homer for the Twins that drove in at least three runs since Josh Willingham’s walk-off home run May 29, 2012 vs. Oakland (off Fuentes).

Josh Willingham’s 7th inning homerun was all the offense the Twins could muster Thursday losing to the Rangers 2-1 at Target Field. Former Twin Joe Nathan pitched the 9th inning for Texas picking up his 7th save.  Click here to listento an interview with Nathan after Thursday’s game

TWINS NOTES: ­

· The Twins lost to the Rangers tonight 2-1, dropping their second in a row…Minnesota has dropped six of their last seven and seven of their last nine games against the Rangers dating back to the beginning of 2012…the Twins have lost four straight to the Rangers at Target Field…the Twins have scored one-run-or-less three times this season.

· Vance Worley allowed two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three in 5.0 innings…has tossed at least 5.0 innings in four of his five starts on the season, including allowing three runs or less in three of the five starts…has 10 strikeouts and four walks in his last 12.0 innings…is still searching for his first win of the season…has not earned a win since August 1, 2012 at Washington, a span of 10 starts without a win (0-5 in those 10 starts).

· Josh Willingham hit his third home run of the season with a solo shot in the seventh inning to give the Twins their first run of the game…it was his 170th career home run…the home run was his 24th at Target Field, tying him with Jim Thome for the all-time home run lead at Target Field…has at least one hit in four of his last five games, including three extra-base hits in those five…also has at least one RBI in six of his last eight games (8 total RBI in those 6 games)…his three home runs lead all Twins…has reached base safely in 13 of his 15 games played this season.

· Joe Mauer threw out his fourth attempted base stealer in the fourth inning; getting Cruz at second base…the Twins have allowed just three stolen bases all season, the fewest in the majors…Mauer was intentionally walked in the eighth inning, his 97th career intentional walk…he is now two away from tying Rod Carew for fourth on the Twins all-time list.

· Brian Dozier finished the game going 1-for-4 with a double…he is 8-for-22 (.364) as the Twins leadoff hitter in five games this season…Dozier was also a part of his 11th double play of the season on a strikeout, caught stealing.

· Wilkin Ramirez hit a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning…he is now a career 6-for-15 (.400) as a pinch-hitter…he raises his career average to .294 (15-for-51).