MINNEAPOLIS -- Adam Dunn's return to the field after missing seven games could not have worked out better for the player or the Chicago White Sox.

Nursing an oblique strain since first injuring himself on Aug. 29, Dunn delivered two hits and a walk in the White Sox’s 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon.

“It felt fine and I didn’t try to swing as hard as I could,” Dunn said. “It felt good.”

Playing first base in order to keep loose during the game, Dunn admitted that he is far from 100 percent. A tell-tale sign of the lingering injury occurred in the third inning as he tried to hold up on a swing and winced in pain.

“That was a stupid predetermined swing,” Dunn said. “It was a 3-1 count and basically I told myself I was swinging. That would have only been a strike in cricket. It is not like it is painful. When I couldn’t play it was. When I would go to swing it felt like it was going to rip off in half.”

The Sox staff and Dunn have an understanding that he will be honest about the level of pain he is feeling on a daily basis.

“It is just sore -- call it like general soreness maybe,” he said. “To be honest with you, I had no idea what to expect. I went in with a general game plan and I didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to get in there and play.”

Robin Ventura is thrilled to see Dunn back in the lineup. “

“It was good to get him back, his swing is fine,” Ventura said.

Dunn is third in the league in home runs with 38 and first in walks with 97.