Chicago,  IL  (SportsNetwork.com) - Alejandro De  Aza stroked two home runs as 
the  Chicago White Sox defeated the  Minnesota Twins, 5-3, on Opening Day for 
both teams. 

De  Aza's two-run  blast in the second  inning and solo shot in the sixth made 
him  the first White Sox player to homer twice on Opening Day since Jim Thome 
in 2008 at Cleveland. 

Jose  Abreu and Adam  Dunn each drove in a run for the White Sox, who featured 
its  first Opening  Day lineup in 16  years that did not include first baseman 
Paul Konerko. Abreu, who signed a six-year, $68 million deal in the offseason, 
also doubled in his major league debut. 

Chris  Sale (1-0) recorded eight strikeouts and surrendered three runs on five 
hits  in  7 1/3 innings of  work. The left-hander  finished fifth in the AL Cy 
Young  Award voting  last  season. Matt  Lindstrom picked  up  the save  after 
allowing one hit and fanning a batter in a scoreless ninth. 

"It's  a  big deal  because of  what last  year was," White Sox manager Robin 
Ventura said of the win. 

Chicago  lost 99 games last season after finishing second in the AL Central in 
2012. 

Kurt Suzuki went 2-for-4 with three RBI for Minnesota, which dropped its sixth 
straight  road opener.  Chris Colabello and Aaron Hicks also supplied two hits 
apiece. 

Ricky  Nolasco (0-1)  was reached for five  runs on 10 hits with two walks and 
four strikeouts. He made his third Opening Day start after signing a four-year 
contract with the Twins in December. 

Abreu  stroked a  sharp  line drive  to  right  for a  double  to leadoff  the 
second.  After  Nolasco issued a  walk to Dunn,  Garcia grounded into a double 
play.  Abreu moved  over to  third on  the  play and  the next  batter De  Aza 
launched  the ball  into  the right-field  seats  to give the White Sox  the 
early lead. 

The  Twins  responded with two  runs of their own  in the next inning. Oswaldo 
Arcia  walked and  Aaron Hicks  singled to  left before  Pedro Florimon's  sac 
bunt  moved  them each  over a  base. Suzuki  then hit  a line-drive single to 
left that brought them home to knot the game at two. 

Adam  Eaton singled  and  Conor Gillaspie  doubled to  put  runners on  second 
and  third  in the  bottom half of  the third. Abreu's  single to left brought 
Eaton  home  and Dunn's sac fly  in foul territory brought Gillaspie around to 
beat the throw at home as the White Sox regained the lead. 

De  Aza added to  the lead after he drove a line drive over the fence in right 
for  his  second blast of the  day, making it a  5-2 game in the bottom of the 
sixth. 

Sale  retired the  next  10 batters  until  Hicks smacked  a  line drive  over 
the  glove of Gillaspie at third into the left-field corner for a double. Sale 
stayed  in to strike out pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar before being lifted with 
one out in the eighth. 

Ronald  Belisario  entered in  relief  of  Sale.  After striking  out  Dozier, 
Suzuki's single brought in Hicks from second. Donnie Veal came in and promptly 
got Joe Mauer to ground out to end the inning. 

Matt  Lindstrom started the ninth for the White Sox. He got Josh Willingham to 
fly  out  to right before  Colabello's flyball dropped  in right for a double. 
Lindstrom  did not let that rattle him. He fanned Trevor Plouffe and got Arcia 
to ground out to end the game. 

                                   Game Notes 

The White Sox are  now 63-51  on Opening Day  while the  Twins are 24-30 ... 
Minnesota  has not won  on Opening Day since when they defeated the LA Angels, 
3-2, in 2008 ... The Twins went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.