By Jason Gonzalez, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) –
MINNEAPOLIS — Any doubt surrounding Denard Span’s trade value leading up to today’s trade deadline was nixed Monday night.
The Twins center fielder lifted the fans to their feet not once, but twice with his defensive plays and even showed a spurt of offense. His climbing and sliding helped the Twins keep pace with the American League Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox, and then the Twins won it, 7-6, in the bottom of the ninth.
(PHOTO: Minnesota Twins’ Josh Willingham is out at second, as Chicago White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez throws to first in the bottom of the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Monday, July 30, 2012. )
Danny Valencia led off the ninth with a single and Brian Dozier hit a beautiful sacrifice bunt that A.J. Pierzinski threw away, moving pinch-runner Alexi Casilla to third and Dozier to second. Jamey Carroll then hit the game-winning sacrifice fly to right.
Span’s defensive heroics not only saved a run in the fifth inning, but garnered a standing ovation of more than minute. He thanked the crowd by making a sliding catch in the eighth.
Starting pitcher Cole De Vries was in need of the support behind him.
There was nothing the White Sox hadn’t seen from De Vries. The rookie righthander was facing Chicago for the second time in a week and the third time in his brief major league career.
The familiarity was evident immediately Monday, as Chicago tagged De Vries for five hits and four first-inning runs, the big blow A.J. Pierzynski’s three-run homer.
Frustration already had overwhelmed De Vries when White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko muscled a two-out RBI single up the middle, but things only got worse. Alex Rios followed with another single before Pierzynski launched the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence.
The Twins weren’t down for long, though, scoring four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Span, Ben Revere, Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham all recorded hits to start the game against White Sox lefthander Jose Quintana, and all four came around to score. Revere’s double extended his hitting streak to a career-long 13 games.
Two innings later, the Twins took a 6-4 lead when Ryan Doumit singled on an 0-2 pitch to drive in Willingham and Danny Valencia hit a sacrifice fly to score Justin Morneau.
Meanwhile, De Vries found a way to survive. Without the same command that got him through six innings in Chicago last week, he left after five innings Monday with a one-run lead.
De Vries hadn’t won a game since his spot start at the end of June. Since his return from Class AAA Rochester, he is 0-1 in five starts, but hasn’t received much support from the bullpen. In his past four no-decisions, he has left the game with the lead only to see it taken away in the late innings.
It was Jared Burton that was responsible for giving up De Vries’ lead Monday. In the eighth inning, Burton hit Alexei Ramirez, who then stole second base. Alejandro De Aza drove in the tying run with a two-out RBI single, his fourth hit of the game.
The run ended a streak of 16 consecutive appearances without a run for Burton. He hadn’t given up a run since a loss to the Cubs on June 10. Monday’s appearance marked rare back-to-back days where Burton pitched — something the Twins have tried to limit this year — but he threw only eight pitches in the eighth inning Sunday against Cleveland.
