Hicks Shines In Twins Win Over Sox Monday

Aaron Hicks broke out and the Twins bullpen shut the door in a 10-3 clobbering of Chicago Monday night at Target Field. Minnesota improves to 18-17 with the win, just 2.5 games behind first place Detroit.

With all due respect to Justin Morneau, who had three hits and four RBI, Hicks was the star of the show for Minnesota. The rookie centerfielder with a sub-.150 batting average coming into the game had a pair of home runs. He also robbed Adam Dunn of what appeared to be a game-tying home run in the top of the sixth inning.

Twins starter Pedro Hernandez allowed a pair of runs in the first inning, but Minnesota's offense backed him up with four runs in the third.

Hicks' first homer of the night, a solo shot in the fourth inning, gave the Twins a 5-2 lead heading into the sixth.

Hicks hit another home run just minutes after robbing Dunn to make it a 6-3 game, and Justin Morneau's bases-clearing double in the eighth gave the Twins the 10-3 lead.

After Hernandez gave up three runs in 5.1 innings, Josh Roenicke, Jared Burton and Casey Fien combined to shut out the White Sox for the final 3.2 innings.

The Twins and Sox play again Tuesday night at 7:10.