Hapless Sox no-hit

The Chicago White Sox's early-season futility reached another low Tuesday night. They couldn't manage a hit against Minnesota's Francisco Liriano, a pitcher who entered the game with a 1-4 record and 9.13 ERA.

The White Sox were no-hit for the 13th time in franchise history and for the first time at U.S. Cellular Field.

Chicago failed to take advantage of six walks by Liriano, losing for the 16th time in 20 games to fall below the Twins for last place in the AL Central.

Adam Dunn lined out to end the game with a runner on.

"He made some great pitches. Whenever somebody like him is able to throw three pitches pretty much anytime in the count, you know you're in for a tough day," said Dunn, who is now batting .157.

"They made some great plays defensively behind him," he said. "You hate tipping your hat, but sometimes you have to."

Dunn had a 3-0 count before Liriano worked it full. Dunn fouled off a pitch to stay alive and then Matt Tolbert picked off his line drive to end the game and start the Twins' celebration.

"As soon as I hit it I saw him and it was right to him. That's pretty much the story of the day," Dunn said.

In his previous start, Liriano lasted three innings in an 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay. The shutout - the first complete game of his major league career - lowered his ERA for the season to 6.61.

Liriano, 3-0 against the White Sox last season, walked Pierre leading off the first and Carlos Quentin with one out in the second, but both were erased on double plays. Chicago put two on in the fourth, and center fielder Denard Span raced into left-center to grab Quentin's long drive.

With two outs in the seventh, third baseman Danny Valencia went behind the bag and into foul territory to grab Quentin's hard hopper and then made a strong throw to first.

Minnesota turned its third double play in the eighth, when Justin Morneau took an offline throw from second baseman Alexi Casilla and umpire Paul Emmel called Gordon Beckham out - replays appeared to show Morneau missed the tag.

"I haven't looked at replay, but he said he tagged me on the shoulder," Beckham said. "I didn't feel him tagging me on the shoulder."

But Beckham also lauded Liriano's stuff on another cold night in Chicago when the game-time temperature was 43.

"Yeah, he was good. And he threw a lot of off-speed stuff," Beckham said.

"He kept us off-balance. It's tough, but you got to tip your hat. We swung at some bad pitches. I know I swung at a couple bad ones. We didn't help ourselves much, but he was very good. He unfortunately due."

Edwin Jackson (2-4) lost his fourth straight start despite allowing six hits in eight innings. Then with Arizona, Jackson no-hit Tampa Bay last June 26 despite walking eight.

Jackson understood the pressure Liriano was feeling in the final inning.

"It's definitely one of those things. One hit away. One hit can be a great day or one hit can be an almost day," Jackson said. "He made his pitches when he needed to. He was great."

Chicago's Mark Buehrle has thrown two no-hitters at U.S. Cellular Field, one a perfect game, and now the White Sox were feeling what it was like to be on the other end.

"What can you say? Let's go. Don't panic. Just go out there and swing the bat. We had pretty good at-bats. They make a couple of nice plays," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

"When you throw a no-hitter, everything worked perfectly for you. Your defense worked. You are pitching well. Everything was working for him."

NOTES: Twins DH Jim Thome was put on the 15-day DL with a left oblique strain, and Minnesota will recall INF Trevor Plouffe from Triple-A Rochester. ... Seven players with batting averages under .200 started the game - four for the Twins and three for the White Sox.