Minnesota (44-41) became the first team to score 20 runs in a game against the White Sox (37-46) since Texas did so on April 2, 1998, marking just the third time since 1950 a team has put up 20 when facing the South Siders. Somehow, the numbers get worse from here.
Along with 21 hits knocked out by the Twins, four White Sox pitchers walked eight and struck out just one. The tone was set early by Jon Garland, who watched his ERA rise from 3.15 to 3.92 after allowing 11 earned runs on 11 hits over 3 1/3 innings. The 11 earned runs stand as a career-high for Garland (6-6) and were the most given up by a White Sox pitcher since the immortal Arnie Munoz yielded 11 at Montreal on June 19, 2004.
Paul Konerko (No. 16), Josh Fields (five) and Jim Thome all went deep, giving Thome 13 for the season and 485 for his illustrious career. Rob Mackowiak finished with four hits, keeping his career ledger perfect against Baker in eight at-bats, while Alex Cintron, Fields and Konerko had three hits apiece. The once-struggling Cintron also drove in four runs, with his two-run double in the ninth helping keep a last-ditch rally alive.