Sox beat Twins, earn split in series

Chris Widger went 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome. Scott Podsednik and Joe Crede both went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored and Rob Mackowiak added three hits and a run scored for the White Sox, who bounced back from losing the first two games of the series to earn a split of this four-game set. Freddy Garcia (6-1) lasted 6 2/3 innings and picked up his sixth straight win after giving up three runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Torii Hunter went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored and Shannon Stewart had a hit and an RBI for the Twins, who had won four straight before dropping their last two. Scott Baker (1-4) started for the Twins, but only lasted just 4 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs on 11 hits, striking out four and walking one, and is now winless in his last five starts (0-3). Chicago got on the scoreboard first with three runs in the second inning. Mackowiak started the inning with a double and scored courtesy of a single by Widger. After Brian Anderson struck out, Podsednik hit his first home run of the season with a shot to right for the 3-0 lead. The Twins got a run back in the bottom of the inning thanks to Justin Morneau`s sacrifice fly that plated Hunter to make it a 3-1 contest. Widger led off the fourth inning with his first home run of the year to give the White Sox a 4-1 lead. However, Hunter countered with a lead-off homer in the bottom of the fourth to get the Twins back to within two runs. Chicago got on the scoreboard again in the fifth. Crede and Mackowiak had back-to-back one-out singles. Crede advanced to third on Juan Uribe`s fielder`s choice grounder that forced Mackowiak out at second. Widger then brought home Crede with a single to left for a 5-2 lead. Podsednik led off the sixth inning with a double, Jim Thome drew an intentional walk and Paul Konerko was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Crede followed up with a sacrifice fly to right that plated Podsednik for the 6-2 White Sox lead. Lew Ford led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and, after Luis Rodriguez flied out, stole second. Ford moved up to third when Nick Punto grounded out and the scored on a Stewart single to left to cut Minnesota`s deficit to 6-3. Crede smacked a home run to center in the ninth for Chicago and Cliff Politte retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game. Game Notes Chicago wraps up its seven-game road trip with three games in Tampa Bay starting on Tuesday...Minnesota hits the road for a pair of three-game sets against Detroit and Milwaukee starting in the Motor City on Tuesday...Garcia has a career 8-4 record versus the Twins in 16 games...Podsednik`s home run was his first in 162 regular season games with the White Sox...Podsednik has a seven-game hitting streak...Baker is 0-1 in two starts against Chicago...The White Sox are 5-2 versus Minnesota this season...Podsednik stole his 11th base of the season.