Perkins returns to close out win over White Sox

MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins closer Glen Perkins, who was held out of Wednesday's game with stiffness in his lower back, came in feeling better and returned to action in Thursday's 4-2 win over the White Sox.

Perkins began to feel stiffness in his back on Tuesday, and tried to throw before Wednesday's game but still felt stiffness and was ruled out for the game. Reliever Casey Fien closed in Perkins' absence and gave up back-to-back homers to David Ortiz and Mike Napoli to hand the Twins a 2-1 loss to the Red Sox in 10 innings at Fenway Park.

But Perkins felt better on Thursday, and ended up picking up his 18th save of the year with a scoreless ninth to help the Twins snap a five-game losing streak.

"Having Perk back out there was nice to see," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "His first couple pitches we thought, 'Oh my,' and thought we might need to get the 'pen up. But he did fine."