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MINNEAPOLIS -- Miguel Sano and Trevor Plouffe each homered during an eight-run third inning, and the Minnesota Twins went deep four times in an 11-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.Brian Dozier led off with his 34th homer, and Byron Buxton tacked on a two-run shot in the second against beleaguered starter James Shields (5-17). The Twins have 162 homers with 26 games to go, the most theyve hit in six years with a pace to post their highest total since their championship season in 1987.Hector Santiago (11-8) won for the first time in six starts since the Twins acquired him in late July from the Los Angeles Angels, finishing six innings with three runs allowed and six strikeouts.Santiago was coming off his best performance with Minnesota -- 6 1/3 scoreless innings at Cleveland. The left-hander cruised through this one after allowing a leadoff home run to Adam Eaton. Santiago for gave up four hits and three walks, boosted by an 11-2 lead he took into the fourth.Shields -- also a midseason acquisition -- kept on struggling. Shipped east by the San Diego Padres in early June, he is 3-10 in 17 starts for the White Sox. Shields has a 7.50 ERA with his new club, averaging exactly five innings per turn.Shields was checked by a team athletic trainer following a leadoff walk to Plouffe in the third and pulled with one out. He was charged with five runs after giving up four walks and five hits, including a two-run smash by Sano that landed in the third deck above left field. The White Sox needed two more relievers to finish the inning, capped by a three-run shot by Plouffe.Max Kepler had two doubles among his three hits, Dozier stole two bases and Buxton went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles to go with his soaring home run.FOR STARTERSWith Eaton and Dozier going deep, this was the fourth time in the majors this season that both leadoff batters homered.REDEMPTION OPPORTUNITYThe Twins recalled catcher John Ryan Murphy from Triple-A Rochester, a chance for him to improve upon the 3-for-40 start to the season that prompted his demotion. Acquired from the New York Yankees for outfielder Aaron Hicks in a winter trade, Murphy hit .236 with 39 RBI in 83 games for Rochester.TRAINERS ROOMWhite Sox: Rookie SS Tim Anderson returned to the lineup after a day off for a bruised right calf muscle.Twins: RHP Trevor May (back) and LHP Tommy Milone (biceps) threw in the bullpen before the game and are set to face live batters in a session on Tuesday.UP NEXTThe White Sox will send RHP Anthony Ranuado (1-1, 8.76 ERA) to the mound on Sunday for the finale of the four-game series, with LHP Andrew Albers (0-0, 6.97 ERA) set to take the mound for the Twins. Ranuado will make his fifth start. Albers finished only two innings in his previous turn earlier this week. . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. The Edmonton Oilers have traded disappointing former first overall draft pick Nail Yakupov to the St. Louis Blues for a prospect and conditional draft pick, the teams announced Friday evening.It marks the second time in just more than three months that the Oilers have traded a former first overall draft pick. On June 30, they dealt Taylor Hall, the first overall pick in 2010, to New Jersey for defenseman Adam Larsson.The return for Yakupov, the first pick in 2012, was significantly lower and illustrates just how far his stock has fallen since he was drafted.The Oilers will receive Zach Pochiro and a third-round pick in 2017. That pick will become a second-round pick in 2018 if Yakupov scores 15 goals or more during the coming season.Pochiro is a center who was drafted in the fourth round, 112th overall, in 2013. He is 22 years old and played in the ECHL last season. He has not played in an NHL game.Yakupov, 23, has scored 50 goals in 252 NHL games and has never scored more than 17 in a single season.dddddddddddd He scored 17 in his rookie season with the Oilers during the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign. He had just eight goals last season and had been rumored to be on the trade block for months.The Oilers retained none of Yakupovs salary in the deal, a source told ESPNs Pierre LeBrun.Edmonton also finalized a one-year contract with unrestricted free-agent defenseman Kris Russell. The new deal between the Oilers and Russell is worth $3.1 million, a source told LeBrun. Russell has remained on the market all summer despite being a top-four defenseman.In 573 games in the NHL, Russell has scored 177 points playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars.Russell, 29, led the League in 2014-15 with 283 blocked shots. ' ' '
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