MINNEAPOLIS—The Minnesota Twins have more power hitters and a higher-profile lineup since an exasperated Ozzie Guillen first labeled them “The Piranhas” four years ago for their pesky style.Well, they’re still true to their roots.The Twins picked up Carl Pavano this time, pecking away at John Danks before the go-ahead RBI single by Denard Span in the fourth inning of a 3-2 victory over the White Sox on Wednesday.Span had two singles and a walk to give the Twins a lift at the top of the lineup and help them split the chilly two-game series with the White Sox, giving them a second 6-3 homestand at Target Field. The Twins are 8-1-2 in series this year, and the White Sox — who are eight games behind the AL Central leaders — are 2-7-2. Guillen, expressed his faith in this sputtering team this week, but the Sox are batting a league-low .230 after this game. They didn’t score in 16 of 18 innings here. Alex Rios took a two-run homer from Michael Cuddyer with a jumping catch over the CF wall in the fifth inning with the Twins leading 3-2, causing Cuddyer to smack his hands on his helmet in disbelief, but the momentum didn’t last.The Twins were shut out in each of Pavano’s last two turns in the rotation, but he hasn’t been fazed.Pavano (4-3) put up his fourth straight start allowing two earned runs or less, totaling 30 innings during that span. After allowing a double steal by Juan Pierre and Rios in the first inning, with one run scoring on catcher Joe Mauer’s throwing error and another on Paul Konerko’s single, Pavano refined his slide-step motion to keep the runners from cheating and stopped overthrowing his sinker. Pavano finished seven innings, giving up six hits, and left the game to Brian Duensing, Matt Guerrier and Jon Rauch, who pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save.Konerko gave Rauch a scare with a long fly down the left-field line in the ninth inning, but it hooked away from the foul pole.Danks (3-2) has been by far the Sox best starter, anchoring a rotation that hasn’t been as good as advertised. The left-hander finished seven innings, giving up seven hits, some of them the kind of well-placed rollers the Twins thrived on at the Metrodome.Mauer, catching consecutive games for the first time since returning from his foot injury, drove in a run with a weak groundout to second and twice grounded into double plays.Justin Morneau drove in the tying run in the third with a single, and Delmon Young hit two doubles — scoring on Span’s single to give the Twins the lead in the fourth.Orlando Hudson, given the option to bunt on his own, set up the rally in the third with a sacrifice that moved runners to second and third with one out.

NOTES—The Sox have Thursday off before startong a three game series in Kansas City Friday evening….Carlos Quentin was originally out of the lineup until RF Andruw Jones reported a stiff neck. Guillen said Jones will likely be out for Friday’s game, too. Quentin was 0 for 4 with a strikeout, dropping his average to .180.