CHICAGO _ Ervin Santana has won 135 games in his career but never both of his first two starts to a season. Until Sunday.
Santana looked every bit the Twins' ace against the White Sox, utterly dominating hitters and allowing only one baserunner to advance as far as second base in his six whisper-quiet innings. The Twins' bullpen allowed a blemish on Santana's masterpiece, but he still collected the win in the Twins' 4-1 victory.
Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano each homered, and the Twins improved to 5-1 on the season for the first time since 2010.
Santana, who gave up just two hits and two walks in his Opening Day dispatching of the Royals, matched those numbers Sunday: two hits, two walks. He struck out four and never allowed a White Sox hitter to strike the ball particularly hard.
Santana was pulled after six shutout innings, and the bullpen wasn't nearly as effective, allowing Chicago to mount threats in all three of the remaining frames. Ryan Pressly, though, snuffed the first-and-third threat for Taylor Rogers, and after Matt Belisle loaded the bases in the eighth, Brandon Kintzler forced in a run by hitting Avisail Garcia with a pitch before ending the inning by whiffing Yolmer Sanchez. In the ninth, Govany Soto drew a leadoff walk against Kintzler, but the Sox couldn't advance him.
The Twins, whose 4-0 start to the season was spoiled with a loss on Saturday, took a 1-0 lead in third inning with a two-out rally. Robbie Grossman hit a ground-rule double, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on Joe Mauer's single to center.
The rest of Minnesota's offense came via home runs _ Polanco's solo shot to center, his first of the season, and Sano's second homer this year, a tremendous blast that traveled 410 feet to straightaway center, scoring Brian Dozier in front of him.
