White Sox trade Rios, 3-2 to Twins in 10 innings to complete day-night doubleheader sweep

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox took the next step in their makeover by trading away Alex Rios.

Then, they got back to losing.

Oswaldo Arcia homered leading off the 10th inning, and Minnesota beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 to complete the day-night doubleheader sweep on Friday.

The big news came before the first game, when the White Sox traded Rios to Texas.

"It's a different day for a lot of these guys when you see a guy like Rios leave, basically 30 minutes before the game," manager Robin Ventura said. "It is tough for a lot of guys that enjoyed him being here, enjoyed having him play here. He is a good guy, good teammate. That's always tough to see a guy like him go."

The two losses that followed didn't ease the sting.

Josh Willingham and Chris Hermann went deep in the second game for Minnesota, and the Twins hit a combined seven homers on the day on the way to the sweep even though they struck out 25 times.

In the opener, Justin Morneau hit a grand slam and solo homer to lift the Twins to a 7-5 win in the early game.

In the second game, Minnesota was trailing 2-1 heading into the eighth when Willingham greeted reliever Matt Lindstrom with a leadoff homer.

Arcia, who homered in the first game, put the Twins ahead when he drove a 1-0 pitch from Dylan Axelrod (4-9) well beyond the center-field wall leading off the 10th.

Glen Perkins hit Avisail Garcia leading off the bottom half, but he ended it by retiring Alexei Ramirez on a fly to right with a runner on third for his 28th save in 31 chances.

That gave the White Sox 12 losses in 15 games and wiped out whatever momentum they built by sweeping the New York Yankees.

The White Sox's Blake Tekotte made it 2-1 in the sixth with his first career homer, after being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte earlier in the day.

Leesman dodged several tight spots in his major league debut but left to a nice ovation after he walked Chris Colabello leading off the sixth. He allowed one run and four hits, and was headed back to Triple-A after having his contract purchased earlier in the day.

"I was making sure I breathe," he said. "Into the nose and out from the mouth. Even that didn't help. You're on cloud nine it was so tough to calm yourself."

Hendriks lasted 6 1-3 innings and gave up two runs and seven hits before heading back to Triple-A Rochester.

Caleb Thielbar came in with runners on first and third and struck out Garcia — the promising outfielder who arrived late after being called up following the Rios trade —batting for Tekotte.

Clete Thomas made a nice running catch on Alejandro De Aza's fly to center to end the threat, and White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham saved a run with a diving stop against a pinch-hitting Joe Mauer with two on and two out in the eighth.

The Rios trade gives the White Sox a chance to see what they have in Garcia as they try to dig their way out from this wreck of a season.

They're last in the AL Central after finishing second a year ago, and they're trying to fill some major holes in their lineup to back a solid pitching staff.

"These last couple of months, let's salvage a little," said John Danks, who started Game 1. "We all have pride and make the games count."