Perkins can't do the job as Twins fall twice again

CHICAGO – There must have been holes in many of the bats at U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday … expect Dayan Viciedo's in crunch time.

The Twins and White Sox spent a long day flailing away at pitches or looking incredulously at plate umpires. For the Twins, the losses mounted as much as the strikeouts. The White Sox won the first game of a doubleheader 5-1 and then stunned the Twins in Game 2 with a two-run walk-off homer by Viciedo off closer Glen Perkins to win 7-6.

"It was a long day, a tough day and about as tough a loss as you will have," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after the Twins lost both games of a doubleheader for the second time in three days.

The strikeouts were more interesting than the final scores. The teams combined for 29 strikeouts in the first game — a Twins record for a nine-inning game — then added 16 more in the second.

Midafternoon shadows crossed the plate for the first pitch of Game 1. And Angel Hernandez's strike zone was wide and inviting. The intersection of those factors led to a record-setting game, and the end of an embarrassing streak for the Twins.

Phil Hughes took the loss in Game 1 but, in doing so, struck out 11 batters over seven-plus innings. The Twins had gone 379 games without a starter striking out at least 10 batters in an outing, the longest drought in baseball and a statement on the paucity of power pitching in the organization in an era in which strikeouts have been on the rise.

Hughes struck out six of the first 10 batters he faced, and he was getting reminders from Perkins that he was close to ending the drought.

"I guess you take the silver lining in a game like this any day," Hughes said. "That was a long time, and my last one came against the Twins [July 13, 2013], ironically enough."

The last Twins pitcher to strike out at least 10 batters in a game was Francisco Liriano, who struck out 10 Orioles on July 18, 2012. Hughes (15-10)couldn't covert the strikeouts into his 16th victory, though. He gave up a two-run homer to Alexei Ramirez in the third inning, an RBI single to Andy Wilkins in the seventh and was chased in the eighth after giving up a leadoff double.

Meanwhile, Chicago lefthander Jose Quintana was even more dominant, holding the Twins to one run on three hits with two walks and a career-high 13 strikeouts.

The Twins juggled their lineup in Game 2 and rolled to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, which included a three-run homer by Oswaldo Arcia off Scott Carroll. But Chicago answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning on a three-run homer by Avisail Garcia off Logan Darnell. Jose Abreu tied it in the fifth with his 34th homer and 100th RBI. Plouffe put the Twins up 5-4 in the sixth with a solo homer but Conor Gillaspie's pinch-hit single in the seventh tied it again.

Kurt Suzuki came through with a two-out RBI double in the eighth to put the Twins up 6-5. Perkins came on to face the White Sox for the 10th time this year. Abreu drew a walk on 14 pitches. Garcia reached on a fielder's choice, bringing Viciedo up.

Perkins (3-3), making his first appearance since Sept. 4, couldn't get the strikeout that would have been a fitting end to day full of whiffs. Instead, his 3-2 fastball got too much of the plate and was pulverized 405 feet into the left-field stands.

"We played good enough to win the game," Perkins said. "It's unfortunate I was out there and it didn't happen. We showed something tonight and that was good. I just didn't do my part."