CHICAGO – Torii Hunter homered twice and had four hits to help Seth Greisinger get his first win in two years, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 4-1 Saturday night.

Hunter singled, doubled and hit solo homers in the sixth and ninth innings. His first homer of the night was the 100th of his career.

Greisinger (1-2) earned his first win since May 19, 2002, for Detroit against Texas. The right-hander missed the 2000 and 2001 seasons after elbow ligament replacement surgery and spent last year in the minors. He allowed four hits in a season-best seven-inning outing, including Frank Thomas’ seventh homer.

J.C. Romero pitched a perfect eighth and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances.

Minnesota sent Esteban Loaiza (4-3) to his third straight loss. Loaiza, a 21-game winner a year ago, gave up six hits and three runs in eight innings, yielding Hunter’s first homer.

Trailing 1-0 the Twins took the lead in the fifth when Hunter doubled past third and scored on Michael Cuddyer’s RBI single. Luis Rivas and Lew Ford then had two-out, opposite-field singles to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.

Hunter’s second homer of the night came off Cliff Politte.

The victory increased the Twins’ AL Central lead over the White Sox to three games. Minnesota has now beaten Chicago seven straight times, dating back to last season.

Notes: Hunter has now hit two homers in a game four times. He also made a nice running catch of Carlos Lee’s long drive to center right after Thomas’ homer in the fourth. … Loaiza has yielded nine homers this season after giving up just 17 all of last year. … Even though his team has had trouble scoring recently, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t start Chicago’s leading hitter, Juan Uribe, for a second straight game. Uribe struck out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. … The Twins are 14-6 against the Central Division this season. … LF Shannon Stewart did not start Saturday night because of a heel bruise. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire kept Stewart out for precautionary reasons and because it was an unseasonably cold night (gametime temperature of 53). … Chicago 1B Paul Konerko went 0-for-3 and is 4-for-41 (.098) in May.

AP-ES-05-15-04 2124EDT