Glen Perkins was on the mound for the first time since Sept. 4 and the Minnesota Twins were looking for some relief after playing doubleheaders in two of the past three days.
Instead, Minnesota left with another deflating sweep.
Perkins was faced with the heart of the Chicago White Sox order, which came through again as Chicago swept a doubleheader Saturday with a 7-6 win in the nightcap. Perkins (3-3) allowed a two-run homer to Dayan Viciedo in the bottom of the ninth inning after the Twins had taken a lead on an RBI double by Kurt Suzuki in the top of the ninth.
"It was a long day, a tough day and probably about as tough a loss as you'll have," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said.
The Twins have lost four straight games as part of two doubleheaders. Minnesota was swept in Cleveland on Thursday.
Perkins, Minnesota's all-star closer, had missed more than a week with neck soreness. He entered with a one-run lead and faced fellow all-star Jose Abreu, who had homered earlier and doubled twice in the first game of the doubleheader.
Abreu managed a 14-pitch walk, fouling off nine two-strike pitches. After a fielder's choice groundout by Avisail Garcia, who had homered earlier, Viciedo connected for a 393-foot home run to end the game.
"He's had plenty of time," Gardenhire said of Perkins. "He should be strong and healthy. He just made a bad pitch there. Or he threw his power to that guy's power and the guy clicked on it. I don't even know if it was a bad pitch, he just went a long ways. Perkins is a power pitcher. That's what happens. He clicked on it."
Gardenhire said Perkins is healthy.
"He wouldn't have been out there if he wasn't ready," Gardenhire said.
Adding to the disappointment was a base-running error in the top of the inning. With Aaron Hicks at second base with one out, Chris Parmelee drove a pitch to the warning track in left-center field. Hicks tried to tag up believing the ball would be caught, but it fell as two defenders came together and Hicks was unable to score.
Parmelee didn't see Hicks hold up and was thrown out as the two converged on the basepaths. Kurt Suzuki hit a pinch-hit RBI double to score Hicks, but a chance was missed for more runs.
"You can't tag up there," Gardenhire said. "If the ball hits the ground you have to score. He's got to be holding off the bag, probably 10 yards or so and reading the ball, and when it hits the ground, he's just got to score on it. He went back to tag up and got caught going the other way. You can't do that.
"And then Parmelee ran with his head down, assuming that he was going to score and wasn't paying attention. He saw the high throw and just kept going right into him. So, not a good play. Fortunately for us, Suzuki picked us up and then Perk gave it up there at the end. There you have it."
Trevor Plouffe and Oswaldo Arcia each had two hits and a homer for Minnesota, which scored four runs in the first inning of the nightcap after being held to one run in the first game on Saturday.
Logan Darnell made the evening start in place of Tom Milone and allowed four runs -- three earned -- in 4 1/3 innings. But he gave up three runs in the bottom of the first after Minnesota had scored four in the top of the inning.
"I think after the first inning I just relaxed," Darnell said. "It was a struggle the first inning but I kind of got into a rhythm with my fastball and some of the off-speed pitches were working, and I had a couple good defensive plays behind me to help me go."
The first game, in part because of the shadows of the setting sun, was filled with strikeouts by both teams. Minnesota struck out 17 times, while Chicago had 12 strikeouts.
Twins starter Phil Hughes set a career high with 11 strikeouts while pitching into the eight inning. He was the first Minnesota pitcher to have double-digit strikeouts in a game since Francisco Liriano on July 18, 2012.
Hughes (15-10) allowed five runs -- three earned in seven innings. He was pulled after giving up a leadoff double and hitting Abreu in the eighth.
"I'm sure for both sides it was tough to see in the shadows," Gardenhire said. "Our guys were definitely saying they were losing the ball and I'm sure it was the same way for them. Unfortunately, they came up with some runs and we didn't."
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