Everyone was wound up Tuesday about the Twins having to face Lucas Giolito for the second time in less than a week. No one bothered to ask the White Sox how they felt about facing Michael Pineda under the same circumstances.
Both won their game last week in Target Field. Both were effective in the rematch Tuesday. Pineda was just a tad better as the Twins held off the White Sox 3-1 in the first of a three-game series.
Marwin Gonzales and Jonathan Schoop each hit solo home runs, and Eddie Rosario, who missed the past three games because of a tight right hamstring, added an RBI single in the eighth.
Pineda, with a slider breaking as sharply as it has all season, held Chicago to one run over five innings on four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. Pineda, once again was a strike-throwing machine as 60 of his 89 pitches were strikes, a nice 67.4 percentage. He was removed after five innings, which falls in line with recent outings since he's come off the injured list.
"I know Giolito is a great pitcher, especially this year," Pineda said, "but I'm not thinking about him. I'm thinking how I can pitch a good game and give an opportunity to my team to win. That's what I try to do. I feel great for that, because we are winning."
The Twins maintained their 3 1/2-game lead in the AL Central over Cleveland, which beat Detroit 10-1, with 31 games to play.
Pineda has a 3.09 ERA over his past 12 outings, tops on the staff during that time frame, His only blemish came in the fourth when he served up a home run to Tim Anderson that trimmed the Twins lead to 2-1.
Pineda had to bow his back later in that inning, getting Ryan Goins to ground out with runners on first and third to end the inning. In the fifth, Anderson batted with a man on first. Pineda threw a wild pitch that allowed Yolmer Sanchez to reach second, but Anderson struck out on one of Pineda's nasty sliders to end the inning.
