CHICAGO -- In his first season as a starter, Chris Sale is settling in nicely. cheap nfl jerseys . Sale pitched seven sharp innings and Paul Konerko and Alex Rios backed him with home runs, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 6-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night. Sale (5-2) held the Twins to two hits and two walks, striking out six. He has allowed three runs or less in all eight of his starts in his first year as a member of the rotation. "Part of pitching is finding a groove and rolling with it," Sale said. "I felt early that I got into a groove and A.J. (Pierzynski) back there calling one of the best games Ive seen him call in a while. It was fun to be out there." Still showing a black eye after getting hit in the face by a pitch last Friday, Konerko had three hits and scored three times. "Its only when I look in the mirror that I can see something is wrong with it," he said. Konerko connected in the seventh for his ninth homer of the season. Hes hitting .548 (17 of 31) during a nine-game hitting streak and his .381 average for the season is two points better than Texas Josh Hamilton for the AL lead. "Youre always grinding out there," Konerko said. "I had one good swing the whole night, a really good swing at the end there that turns into a home run." Rios sent a two-run homer into the Twins bullpen in left field in the fourth, his first home run since April 7 at Texas. "I think hes been swinging it pretty good and not really hitting home runs," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Just approach-wise hes been looking good at the plate, putting in his work and feeling comfortable at the plate." The White Sox recorded their fifth shutout of the season and have won five of six. Chicago had lost 9-2 to Minnesota on Tuesday. "These guys are resilient," Ventura said. "They find a way to come back and as difficult as yesterday was all the way around to be able to bounce back and put together a game like this all the way around, pitching and the offence, is nice to see." The Twins entered the game with the worst record in the AL, but had gone 5-1 on their current road trip. They hurt themselves by making three errors, setting up three unearned runs -- Minnesota had committed just one error in its previous eight games. Minnesota has been shut out eight times this season. "Sale was really good on us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He didnt give us much of a chance. Our defence, which has been playing really good, as talked about before the ballgame -- I think we jinxed ourselves." Scott Diamond (3-1) allowing five runs, only two of them earned, and gave up a season-high nine hits. He left the game with a 1.78 ERA this season. "He threw the ball well," Gardenhire said. "Unfortunately, we didnt make some plays behind him. We made him throw some extra pitches and made him work a little bit harder." Sale permitted just one runner past first base and was aided by a pair of double plays. Hes made a seamless return to the rotation over his last three outings after a brief shift to the bullpen, the teams response to his elbow soreness. "I felt like I was commanding my fastball well and I threw the changeup for strikes more so than I have been," he said. Chicago scored an unearned run in the first on Adam Dunns RBI single, helped by an error from second baseman Jamey Carroll. The White Sox tacked on two more unearned runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Pierzynski and an RBI groundout by Orlando Hudson, with right fielder Darin Mastroianni dropping a fly ball during the inning. NOTES: Joe Mauer reached base three times for Minnesota on a single and a pair of walks. Hes reached base in 13 of his last 18 plate appearances. ... Hudson made his first career start at third base. ... Ventura said that rookie Addison Reed is now his full-time closer. Reed has converted all four of his save opportunities this season. cheap china jerseys . The Brazil defender was substituted 13 minutes into Wednesdays 2-1 Copa del Rey win at Athletic Bilbao because of a right hamstring problem. Scans revealed a second grade tear which could keep him out for a reported four to six weeks. cheap jerseys . The loss was the first under Paul Maurice, snapping the team and Ondrej Pavelecs win streak at four. It was the second time this season the Jets have been shut out. The Jets are in a stretch of three games in four nights, with a home game against Toronto Saturday (TSN 1290) and a road game in Chicago on Sunday (TSN Jets, TSN 1290).MONTREAL -- Getting nearly 59,000 fans into Olympic Stadium for their Major League Soccer home opener was nice, but it came with some headaches for the Montreal Impact. The expansion team is promising changes to concessions, parking and stadium access for its second home game April 7 against Toronto FC, even though a much smaller crowd is expected at the domed stadium. "We want to convey the message that whether there are 20,000 or 50,000 (spectators), well be ready," team vice-president Richard Legendre said Wednesday. "Its normal after one event that we have to make adjustments." The Impact drew 58,912 fans to their first MLS home game on March 17, an entertaining 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire. But it was a trying experience for some fans. Concession stands were understaffed and some access points were closed off, causing a logjam of people all trying to enter through the main rotunda. Many were late getting to their seats. "The stadium was in winter mode, so certain access points, certain stairwells from the outside, were closed off, so people couldnt get to the second level from the outside," said team president Joey Saputo. "These are some of the issues we need to correct." He said the provincial government agency that runs the stadium is open to making the changes. Saputo said more than 18,000 tickets have been sold for the TFC game and they hope to get between 25,000 and 30,000. More than 1,000 TFC fans aree expected to make the trip to Montreal. cheap jerseys china. "It was never our intention to have 50,000 fans every game," said Saputo. "Certain games will be better than others." The Impact will play their first five regular-season home games, as well as one game against Toronto in the Amway Canadian Championship, at the Big O while work is completed to expand Saputo Stadium to 20,000 seats. They are scheduled to move back to the outdoor pitch on June 16. The team also made official the retirement of veteran central defender Nevio Pizzolitto. The 35-year-old turned down an offer to be full-time assistant coach of the Impacts under-21 team. Instead, the Montreal native will work with his brother in their family business making ornamental railings and work part-time as technical director of the Monteuil soccer club in suburban Laval, Que. Pizzolitto was among five players from last years team, which played in the second division, to be given tryouts with the MLS squad, but he was cut on Feb. 20. "I would have regretted it if I didnt try out," he said. "(Coach) Jesse Marsch was very honest with me. "I understand their decision completely. Theres no animosity." Note: The shock elimination of the U.S. under-23 team from the Olympic qualifying tournament means that versatile defender Zarek Valentin will rejoin the Impact this week. It is not known if he will play Saturday against the Red Bulls in New York. ' ' '
