For six innings the teams that couldn't shed each other throughout the season went at it again. Identical 88-74 records (53-28 at home and 35-46 on the road), identical finishes to the season (losses Friday and Saturday, win Sunday) and identical goose eggs on the scoreboard.
The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox were inseparable.
Sox slugger Jim Thome finally changed that with a no doubter to straightaway center leading off the seventh. That run was enough for John Danks, who kept Minnesota at bay with a combination of two and four seam fastballs in the 1-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field Tuesday.
Minnesota managed just two hits, a leadoff double in the fifth by Michael Cuddyer and a one out single by Brendan Harris in the eighth. And both runners were erased by double plays.
Unable to figure out Danks, Twins hitters resorted to swinging at the first offering. This allowed the young left-hander to keep his pitch count down and complete eight innings in a start made on three days' rest.
Third base coach Scott Ullger tried to get Minnesota on the board first. He sent Cuddyer home on a shallow fly to center in the fifth. Ken Griffey Jr., far removed from his magnificent Gold Glove days of the 1990s, rediscovered his youth in the form of a perfect throw home to end the inning.
Nick Blackburn did all he could to lift the Twins into the postseason. His lone mistake, a hanging changeup to Thome with no outs in the seventh, proved Minnesota's undoing.
Little can be said about the loss other than Minnesota couldn't get it done when given the chance. Another 0-for-3 night from Justin Morneau left the AL MVP candidate in a 1-for-20 slump to end the season. Nine double plays, including three Tuesday, contributed to a 1-3 record and, sans four runs late Sunday, five runs after the emotionally empowering sweep of the Sox last week.
A coin flip that gave Chicago home field for Tuesday's game. Maybe next year the Twins will come out ahead.
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