HUGHES 2-HITS CHISOX; DOZIER HOMERS AGAIN
Season's 1st Complete Game

CHICAGO, Apr. 3 (AP) - Phil Hughes fired a 2-hit complete game shutout, leading the Minnesota Twins past the Chicago White Sox 7-0, finishing off a three-game sweep of the season-opening series at U.S. Cellular Field.  Hughes allowed only two baserunners, both of them singles, and retired the final 14 hitters he faced.  He fanned nine and was in complete command throughout the contest.  Brian Dozier hit his fourth home run of the year and has now homered in all three of Minnesota's games.

The Twins scored the only run they would need off White Sox starter Jose Quintana in the opening frame when Dozier deposited a 2-2 fastball into the left-center field bleachers for a 1-0 lead. 

The margin stretched to three runs in the top of the fifth.  Oswaldo Arcia drew a lead-off walk from Quintana and advanced to second on Josmil Pinto's base hit.  Aaron Hicks followed with a double down the left field line, scoring Arcia and advancing Pinto to third.  Eduardo Escobar then lined a single to center, scoring Pinto, but Adam Eaton easily gunned down Hicks at the plate for the first out of the inning and Quintana wriggled out of further trouble.

Arcia's solo home run, his third longball in the last two days, gave the Twins a 4-0 lead in the sixth and Minnesota plated three more runs off the Chicago bullpen in the seventh, icing the game.  An error by third baseman Marcus Semien allowed Dozier to reach leading off the inning and that opened the floodgates.  One run scored on a wild pitch and Pinto singled home the other two.

Hughes was on cruise control the entire game.  After retiring the first 10 batters he faced he yielded a one-out fourth inning single to Semien who was immediately erased by a double play ball off the bat of Jose Abreu.  Avisail Garcia reached on a single with one out in the fifth but Hughes calmly struck out Alejandro de Aza and got Alexei Ramirez on a weak ground ball to first to end the inning.  No other White Sox batter reached base.

4/3/2014, Min14-ChA14, U.S. Cellular Field
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2014 Twins             1  0  0  0  2  1  3  0  0     7  9  0     8  1
2014 White Sox         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  2  1     1  0
 
Twins                AB  R  H BI   AVG    White Sox            AB  R  H BI   AVG
Dozier            2b  5  2  1  1  .429    Eaton             cf  4  0  0  0  .400
Mauer             dh  4  0  1  0  .333    Semien            3b  3  0  1  0  .250
Willingham        lf  3  1  0  0  .154    Abreu,J           1b  3  0  0  0  .154
Colabello         1b  5  1  0  0  .000    Dunn,A            dh  3  0  0  0  .000
Plouffe           3b  5  0  1  0  .167    Garcia,A          rf  3  0  1  0  .231
Arcia             rf  3  2  1  1  .308    De Aza            lf  3  0  0  0  .417
Pinto             c   3  1  2  2  .667    Ramirez,Al        ss  3  0  0  0  .231
Hicks,A           cf  4  0  1  1  .333    Flowers           c   3  0  0  0  .000
Escobar,Edu       ss  4  0  2  1  .500    Garcia,Le         2b  2  0  0  0  .429
                     36  7  9  6           Gillaspie        ph  1  0  0  0  .333
                                                               28  0  2  0
 
Twins                            INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Hughes,P         W 1-0           9.0  2  0  0  0  9  98  70  0.00
                                 9.0  2  0  0  0  9  98  70
 
White Sox                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Quintana         L 0-1           5.1  6  4  4  4  3 103  55  6.75
Cleto                            1.1  1  3  0  2  0  26  13  3.00
Lindstrom                        0.2  2  0  0  0  1  12   7  0.00
Downs,S                          0.2  0  0  0  0  0   2   2  9.00
Belisario                        1.0  0  0  0  0  0   3   3  6.75
                                 9.0  9  7  4  6  4 146  80
 
ChA: Gillaspie batted for Garcia,Le in the 9th
 
E-Semien. 2B-Mauer(1), Hicks,A(1). HR-Dozier(4), Arcia(3). RBI-Dozier(6),
Arcia(8), Pinto 2(2), Hicks,A(3), Escobar,Edu(1). K-Dozier, Mauer, Colabello,
Escobar,Edu, Semien 2, Dunn,A 2, Garcia,A, De Aza 2, Flowers, Gillaspie.
BB-Mauer, Willingham 2, Arcia 2, Pinto. WP-Cleto.
GWRBI: Dozier
Temperature: 59, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 1 MPH.
Attendance: 14,987
Game Time: 2:52