Levine: Division Play Continues To Perplex White Sox

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Twins defeated the White Sox for the first time in seven tries Tuesday evening, getting a strong outing from right-hander Kyle Gibson in a 4-0 win at U.S. Cellular Field.

Entering the night at 0-5 with a 6.05 ERA, Gibson was Chicago's undoing in registering seven shutout innings while scattering five hits and one walk and striking out seven. The win was Gibson's first since late last September, and the White Sox were left to explain why they couldn't hit his off-speed stuff that continuously perplexed them.

It was the third time this season the White Sox had been shut out.

"Any time we seemed to get something going against Gibson, he just started going soft," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "He was using our aggressiveness against us. That is what played into it. He had a very good change-up. He used his curve when he had to. We went backward, because anytime we got in an aggressive count, he took a little off his stuff. We just could not get anything going against him."

The White Sox now find themselves 8.5 games behind the red-hot, AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians, who have an 11-game winning streak. What's more disturbing for Chicago is a 3-16 record in its last 19 division games.

"We have to pick it up within our own division," said Ventura, who watched left-hander Jose Quintana once again get no run support while taking his eighth loss of the season. "Figuring with Q going tonight, we thought we would get something going. But any time we got going, it got snuffed out."

The wild-card appears to becoming a more realistic option for the White Sox (38-39) as they close in on the halfway point of the season, especially with the division record beginning to loom large into the equation.

"Maybe they know us a little bit," third baseman Todd Frazier said. "They may know our tendencies a little more. There is no real rhyme or reason. Gibson got us today, tip your cap to him. We have two more to go to try and win the series."

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.