CHICAGO _ Rookie Dane Dunning pitched seven strong innings in the Chicago White Sox's 6-2 win Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Dunning allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with seven strikeouts and two walks as the Sox (32-16) increased their lead in the American League Central to three games over the second-place Twins (30-20).
Dunning improved to 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in five starts. He has 28 strikeouts in 27 innings.
Tim Anderson and James McCann homered for the Sox, who have won six straight and 10 of 11.
Anderson went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. He leads the AL with a .377 batting average. McCann went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.
Eloy Jimenez gave the Sox a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the first.
The Twins tied the game in the third. Byron Buxton hit a liner to deep center that Luis Robert just missed on a leaping attempt. Robert crashed into the wall and the ball rolled away as Buxton rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
The Sox answered with three in the bottom of the third. McCann drove in Yasmani Grandal with a double, and Robert followed with a two-run single to center to make it 4-1.
Buxton singled to begin the fifth, moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout, cutting the Sox lead to 4-2.
Anderson hit his eighth home run in the sixth, and McCann's solo homer in the seventh, his sixth of the season, extended the lead to 6-2.
The Sox created some breathing room in the standings by taking the first two of the crucial four-game series.
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