After a lengthy rain delay, and spouts of showers during, the Chicago White Sox leveraged Minnesota Twins pitching struggles in the sixth inning to an 8-4 victory. Yolmer Sanchez matched a career game-high four RBI, and the bullpen shut the door for 2.2 innings helping starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez improve his record to 3-5 in 2018.
The Twins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to solo home runs by Brian Dozier and Ehire Adrianza. In the bottom half of the third, Adrianza made an errant throw to first base on Adam Engel's grounder. Joe Mauer wasn't able to make a tag on Engel, and that ended up being costly with the next hitter. Yoan Moncada, who had six RBI in the previous game, smashed a line drive to right center for a run-scoring triple. Now 2-1, Yolmer Sanchez drove in Moncada with a grounder to Dozier at second base tying the game at 2-2.
Reynaldo Lopez wasn't exactly sharp tonight, but considering the weather conditions, he did the best he could with a wet baseball. It got rough in the fifth inning as the Twins hitters connected with Lopez's off-speed pitches. Mitch Garver lead the inning off singling on Lopez's slider. Jake Cave singled to center off Lopez's curveball. Adrianza hit a rocket off Lopez's changeup that deflected off Jose Abreu into right field. Garver scored, and it was 3-2 Twins with runners on the corners for Joe Mauer.
Lopez challenged Mauer with his fastball, and the veteran took an opportunity to drive one to deep left field for a sacrifice fly. Now down 4-2 with just one out, Lopez was able to maneuver around the dangerous duo of Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar to limit the damage.
After Lopez pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning, the White Sox were the happy recipients of Lance Lynn's fielding difficulties. It all started with Matt Davidson's improbable lead-off single. Lynn was able to get a glove on his chopper up the middle but slipped when trying to field it. Trainers came out to make sure Lynn hadn't twisted his knee in the fielding attempt. Staying in the game, Leury Garcia hit a sharp grounder up the middle that Lynn attempted to field. If he had known where the infield was positioned, Garcia's grounder should have been a tailor-made double play. Instead, Lynn's misplay had the ball bounce off his glove into no man's land at second base. Back-to-back infield singles and the Sox were threatening with a rally.
On the very next pitch, Kevan Smith drove an actual single to left field and loaded the bases for Tim Anderson. Twins manager Paul Molitor decided to lift Lynn for reliever Ryan Pressly. With no outs, Pressly was wild against Anderson, walking him and cutting the Twins lead to a single run. Pressly was able to recover striking out Adam Engel on three pitches for the first out. Molitor made his second pitching change going to lefty reliever Taylor Rogers to turn Moncada around. That moved worked as Moncada hit an infield pop-up, and suddenly the White Sox had two outs with the game-tying run just 90 feet away.
Molitor stuck with Rogers against Sanchez, and after fouling off four pitches in an eight-pitch at-bat, Sanchez drove a single to right center. Garcia and Smith scored, and the White Sox were ahead 5-4.
Sox manager Rick Renteria used Lopez to strikeout Garver leading off the seventh and lifted him for Luis Avilan. Lopez finished his night with a line of 6.1 IP 6 H 4 ER 1 BB 4 K on 98 pitches. Avilan struck out Jake Cave, and he was lifted for Juan Minaya. On the only pitch he threw tonight, Minaya got Adrianza to ground out to Abreu ending the seventh.
Avisail Garcia provided some insurance belting a hanging curve for his second home run of the 2018 season in the seventh. His first home run since April 3rd. Now up 6-4, Jace Fry shut down the heart of the Twins lineup against Mauer, Rosario, and Escobar, striking out the last two. Sox offense wasn't done in the eighth. Tim Anderson started with an infield single, and Adam Engel was hit in the neck by a curveball. Then Dozier booted Moncada's grounder, and the White Sox again had the bases loaded with no outs.
Yolmer Sanchez would drive in his fourth run with a single to right field, putting the Sox ahead 7-4. Molitor made another pitching change to have Matt Belisle face a struggling Jose Abreu. Just like Pressly did against Anderson in the sixth inning, Belisle walked Abreu for another run.
Joakim Soria pitched a clean ninth inning, and the White Sox improve to 11-14 in June and 4-6 against the Minnesota Twins in 2018.
Bullet points
- Yoan Moncada and Avisail Garcia had a scary collision in the first inning on a shallow fly ball in foul territory. Garcia was able to make the catch, but he elbowed Moncada in the back of the head. Sox trainer Herm Schneider performed a concussion test for Moncada on the field, but both players were OK to stay in the game.
- If the White Sox win one more game in their next three, they will avoid the worst 81-game start in franchise history (1948 White Sox: 27-54).
Record: 27-51 | Box Score
