MINNEAPOLIS -- Entering Monday's game against the Minnesota Twins, Jake Peavy hadn't allowed a run in 14 1/3 innings at Target Field. That changed in the first inning of the Chicago White Sox's 4-1 loss to the Twins, in a start filled with glancing blows off defender's gloves, bleeding singles and too little run support to keep Peavy from his third straight loss.

But after falling behind 3-0 in the first two innings, he pulled himself together to strand runners in scoring position in three of the next four innings. And that was the kind of night Darrel Akerfelds would have appreciated.

Akerfelds was the bullpen coach in San Diego from the time Peavy arrived in the major leagues in 2002 to the day he was traded to the White Sox in 2009. Akerfelds attended 148 of 162 Padres games last season while undergoing chemotherapy, and finally succumbed to cancer on Sunday, dying at the age of 50. Peavy tweeted on Sunday that Akerfelds was "closer than a brother" to him. And on Monday, he pitched with a heavy heart.

"Losing 'Ak' has been tough," he said. "Me and him would text on game days. He would always text or have [his girlfriend] Julie text me. Talking to her today was tough. But you get out there and you compete. He wouldn't have wanted no different."

Peavy will attend services for Akerfelds, tentatively scheduled for July 9, the first day of the All-Star break, to accommodate all of the players and coaches who would want to attend. On Monday, he tried to offer as fitting a tribute as he could.

"I had to battle as much as I could," Peavy said. "I just kept it in my mind, those tough times. As hard as he battled [cancer], I just wanted to battle for him, make him proud. I would have liked to have battled and won, but I just wanted it to be that I gave it all I had."