CHICAGO _ 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 pitchers were very effective Tuesday, but Pineda was a little bit better as he helped the Twins win 3-1.
The Twins got solo home runs from Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Schoop to grab a 2-0 lead. Pineda, with a slider breaking as sharp as it has all season, held Chicago to one run over five innings on four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.
The Twins added an insurance run from Eddie Rosario, who returned to the lineup and drove in Jorge Polanco with a single in the eighth to make it 3-1.
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 and 89 pitches, which falls in line with recent outings since he's came off the injured list.
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 got Chicago within 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 to allow the runner to reach second, but Anderson struck out on a slider to end the inning.
It was less than a week ago when Giolito dominated the Twins while guiding the White Sox to a 4-0 win at Target Field. That victory enabled the White Sox to leave town with two wins in the three-game series while handing the Twins just their third shutout loss of the season. Surely, the residue from that game was still on the Twins minds Tuesday.
"It's baseball," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said before the game. "You never really know what's going to happen. That's why we go out there and play the games. He's tough, but know our guys will be out there and ready to go. I'm sure some guys will go out there with similar approaches and I'm sure some guys will try a little something different and see what works."
The manager certainly tried something different. Noting that lefthanded hitters were batting .171 against Giolito, whose fastball and changeup combo flummoxes them, Baldelli made sure that every available righthanded hitter was in the lineup.
Giolito pitched into the seventh inning and kept Chicago within striking distance, but it was obvious things were going to be different on Tuesday.
Jorge Polanco worked a nine-pitch walk against him with one out in the first, followed by a Nelson Cruz single to put runners on first and third. Eddie Rosario gave away an at-bat, popping out to third base on the first pitch. Miguel Sano struck out to end the inning, but the Twins made Giolito throw 20 pitches in the inning.
The second sign things were different came in the second inning, when Giolito grooved a 1-2 fastball to Marwin Gonzalez that was punished into the right field seats for the first run of the game. Giolito did not make a mistake over the plate like that last week in Target Field.
Three batters later, Jonathan Schoop crushed an off-speed pitch out to left to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
And that lead held up into the late innings, as Pineda, with his slider operating at full tilt, continued his run of strong pitching.
