Game #4: Twins 4, White Sox 3, 11 innings

Of the career-high 57 pitches Tony Pena threw Friday night against Minnesota, two stand out.

With Joe Mauer on third with two outs in the 11th inning, Pena appeared to catch the outside corner twice against J.J. Hardy. Home plate umpire Chris Guccione disagreed, them both pitches balls and opening the door for Hardy's go-ahead single through the left side that gave the Twins a series-opening 4-3 victory.

"We thought it was a pretty close pitch to take," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The umpire thought it was a ball. It's a shame he lose the game because he deserved to win, he deserved better than what he did."

Pena threw three innings in the Sox' second straight extra-inning game, striking out four as his team failed again to capitalize on solid pitching. The offense went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and are 4-for-27 in those situations over the last two games.

"Pena did great," said Sox starter John Danks, who allowed one earned run in six innings. "The whole bullpen, everyone did great. I wish I could have had a quicker first inning and get a little deeper in the game so I didn't have to burn guys out. Pena went out there and threw great."

While Pena may have gotten the loss, his ability to eat up innings for taxed bullpen could prove valuable -- especially if Freddy Garcia can't turn in a quality start today. At this point, the Sox just want to avoid falling any further before righting the ship.

The bright spot thus far, has been the pitching. In addition to Danks' stellar outing, Sergio Santos also had his second straight scoreless relief outing, this time striking out Delmon Young to end a Twins scoring threat in the seventh inning.

"I have all the confidence in the world no matter who we turn the ball over to down there," Danks said. "We didn't want to start the season 1-3, but, like I said, it's early. We have plenty of time, no need to push the panic button just yet. We know how good we are, it's just matter of time before we click on all cylinders and play to our full capabilities."