Severna Park's Gavin Floyd helped the White Sox stop a six-game losing streak and blunt the controversy caused by a pair of inflatable dolls in the Chicago locker room on a recent road trip when he came within two outs of a no-hitter in a 7-1 win over Minnesota at home yesterday.

The dolls were part of a prank when the team was in Toronto in the midst of a slump. Someone placed bats reportedly in a suggestive fashion around the inflatable dolls with signs urging the team to do better. Manager Ozzie Guillen said he didn't see anything wrong with the display but the White Sox front office was busy making apologies.

Meanwhile, Floyd, who went to Mount St. Joseph, was ending the losing streak with a three-walk, four-strikeout effort when the Twins' Joe Mauer broke up the no-hitter with a double to left-center that outfielder Nick Swisher just couldn't reach. Floyd also had a no-hitter going for 7.1 innings back in April against Detroit. He's 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA so far this season.

Photo:  Associated Press