White Sox 9, Twins 6

MINNEAPOLIS – Freddy Garcia got plenty of run support from his new team, winning his debut with the Chicago White Sox 9-6 over the Minnesota Twins.

Paul Konerko, Jose Valentin and Joe Crede backed Garcia with home runs, and the White Sox moved one game ahead of the Twins in the AL Central – two in the loss column.

Acquired Sunday in a trade with Seattle to solidify Chicago’s rotation for the playoff race, Garcia (5-7) gave up seven hits and five runs – four earned – in six innings while striking out a season-high nine.

He wasn’t great, but he didn’t need to be. Aaron Rowand added a homer in the eighth for the White Sox, who have won four straight overall and six of their last seven against rival Minnesota. The Twins have been outscored 61-19 in those six defeats.

Rookie Joe Mauer hit the second of his two homers off Shingo Takatsu with one out in the ninth, ending Japan’s career saves leader’s scoreless streak at 26 2-3 innings. It was Mauer’s first career two-homer game.

Brad Radke (4-4) allowed season highs in hits (11) and runs (eight) while striking out two in six-plus innings. He hasn’t won in seven starts since a 9-1 victory over the White Sox on May 22, though he pitched very well with nothing to show for it in most of those outings.

Cristian Guzman and Corey Koskie also homered for the Twins, who lost their season-high fourth straight.

Garcia struck out four of the first seven he faced until Mauer’s homer in the third. Matthew LeCroy, returning to the lineup after sitting out Tuesday’s game with a sore knee, led off the fifth with a single and moved up when Valentin misplayed Mauer’s grounder for an error.

Then, Guzman pulled an 0-1 pitch off the face of an empty suite above right field to tie the game at 4.

But Radke just didn’t have it. He gave up Valentin’s 17th homer in the sixth, watched Koskie retie it in the bottom of the inning with his solo shot and then let the White Sox break it open with a three-run seventh to make it 8-5.

Crede led off with a homer, and Radke gave up consecutive singles before being replaced by Juan Rincon. Frank Thomas singled in a run and Carlos Lee added a sacrifice fly.

The Mariners averaged a major league-worst 2.19 runs in Garcia’s 15 starts, a lack of support that Radke could relate to. In his nine no-decisions, the Twins have scored just 17 runs with him in the game.

But Garcia now plays for the highest-scoring team in the majors, and Radke had nothing to complain about, either, in this one.

He gave up a run in each of the first four innings. Timo Perez started the game with a double and came home on a sacrifice fly by Thomas, but Lew Ford minimized the first-inning damage by leaping over the left-field wall to steal a home run from Lee.

The Sox used three singles to score in the second, the last one an infield chop to third that Crede barely beat out to drive in Valentin.

Lee added an RBI single in third, and Konerko’s leadoff homer in the fourth put Chicago up 4-1.

Notes: After making the All-Star team and hitting .304 with 27 homers in 2002, Konerko slumped to .234, 18 and 65 last year – and that was with a solid second half. This year, his 20 homers and 54 RBIs are well on pace to surpass career highs (32 homers in 2001 and 104 RBIs in 2002). … Guzman hit 57 triples and 31 homers in his first five seasons. This year? Four homers and just two triples.

AP-ES-06-30-04 2248EDT