MINNEAPOLIS — The White Sox got everything they needed Monday in a four-run fourth inning and went on to beat the Twins 4-3 at Target Field.
Hanser Alberto's one-out, three-run homer in that fourth stood as the winner after the Twins scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings but couldn't get one more. Not after they left nine runners on base for the afternoon.
The Twins got Willi Castro as far as third base with two out in the eighth, but couldn't get him home when Michael A. Taylor struck out.
Monday's game opened a three-run series after the Twins took two of three games in a home-opening weekend series with defending World Series champion Houston.
The White Sox answered the Twins' lone, unearned run in their third inning by scoring their four in the top of the fourth.
Included was Alberto's homer hit 390 feet into the left-center field bleachers on Twins starter Kenta Maeda's 80 mph slider.
It was the Chicago third baseman's first homer this season and it scored Gavin Sheets and Yasmani Grandel ahead of him. Grandel had driven in the tying run at 1-1 by singling home left fielder Andrew Benintendi.
The Twins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third in an inning when they loaded the bases and used a hit batsman, a fielder's choice, fielding error to get their first run across the plate.
Maeda made his second start back from Tommy John elbow surgery that sidelined him for 591 days.
He pitched six innings and gave up eight hits, four runs, walked none, struck out three and allowed the one home run.
Maeda allowed one run in five innings in a 1-0 loss at Miami last week.
"He used spring training very well," Baldelli said before the game. "He came in, he was still finding his command, yes, and everything. We knew that would be the case. He used the camp to the best of his ability and he looked like himself in his first start.
"He was sharp, his pitches were moving the way he wants them to. That first start really couldn't have gone any better."
The runner-up in American League Cy Young award voting last season, Cease went five innings, allowed three hits, three runs, walked two and struck out six.
The Twins couldn't get one more run despite right fielder Matt Wallner's productive adventures in base running.
His adventures on the base paths brought his team back from a 4-1 deficit and helped score a single run in both the Twins' fifth and sixth innings.
He eluded a run-down between second and third to advance to third after he had been hit by a pitch to lead off the Twins' fourth inning. He scored on left fielder Trevor Larnach's single with two men on and two out to get his team within 4-2.
Wallner ran through White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson to get to third in that rundown and Anderson left the game later because of left knee soreness.
In the fifth inning, Wallner's shot down the first base line went through Chicago first baseman Gavin Sheets into the outfield corner and the two players collided when Wallner tried to round the base and head for second. His hit scored Nick Gordon from first to make it 4-3.
