Bullet-point recap, because I have the White Sox Wake-Up Call in the morning and I don't want to plagiarize myself too much:
*One swing of the bat from Luis Robert eased the tensions of this game dramatically, as his grand slam off Sonny Gray turned a 2-1 game loaded with missed opportunities and charted a new course toward a laugher.
*Rocco Baldelli might've swapped bodies with Tony La Russa, because he had a really weird night. In the second inning, he didn't challenge a play at the plate that looked overturnable when AJ Pollock threw out Gio Urshela on Luis Arraez's attempt at a game-tying sac fly. Baldelli held his challenge until another play at the plate in the sixth inning, when the Twins were about to trail 8-1 on a José Abreu sac fly attempt. Yoán Moncada was called safe, and the play stood.
*Baldelli also let Sonny Gray try to battle through a Josh Harrison line drive off his pitching shoulder with one out that started that fateful four-run fourth. Seby Zavala singled on 2-0 and Tim Anderson walked to load the bases. Gray then fell behind 3-1 before getting Yoán Moncada to ground into a fielder's choice at home, but when he spun a third consecutive slider to Robert, Robert didn't miss it. The line drive appeared to be rising when it hit the seats. Baldelli only lifted Gray after Abreu's subsequent single.
*Johnny Cueto had his most adventurous quality start yet. He left the bases loaded in the first, limited the Twins to one run on an Urshela double in the second thanks to Pollock's throw, then stranded a Byron Buxton leadoff triple in the third with a popout, strikeout and groundout. Only after Robert's slam did Cueto provide the gift of a 1-2-3 inning.
*Cueto then stumbled into more trouble in the fifth when he appeared to tweak something trying to field Buxton's swinging bunt. His pace slowed to a crawl as he walked Max Kepler on six pitches, then engaged in another full-count battle with Jorge Polanco. On the eighth pitch -- and a third consecutive fastball -- Polanco flied out deep to right field to end the threat. Through five innings, he'd scattered seven hits and two walks over 103 pitches, so it was a great time to call it a night.
*Except La Russa sent Cueto out for the sixth inning. Fortunately, Cueto responded by striking out the side, so he'll go into the All-Star break with nine quality starts in 11 attempts, and proof that whatever he might've irritated by slipping in front of home plate wasn't a factor. He heads into the break with a 2.80 ERA.
*Jimmy Lambert, Tanner Banks and José Ruiz handled the rest of the game, and while none of them pitched a clean inning, it was on hits, not walks. Ruiz suffered the only damage, giving up a solo shot to Kyle Garlick with two outs in the ninth.
*The White Sox offense inflicted plenty more damage by then. They turned a one-out error by Polanco into two runs in the sixth, with Robert adding his fifth RBI on a single, then the aforementioned Abreu sac fly that held up. Andrew Vaughn opened the seventh inning by taking Jharel Cotton out to the deepest part of the park in left center.
*The bottom of the order then padded stats against Nick Gordon. Pollock walked, Harrison doubled, and Seby Zavala hit a three-run homer to put the Sox into double digits.
*Zavala ended the game by fielding Gilberto Celestino's nubber in front of home plate and tagging him out. Bodies bumped over the plate, as Celestino didn't seem to think the ball would've stayed fair, and then benches cleared as the two exchanged words. The bullpens also cleared, but more because the game was over.
*The Twins were 1-for-10 in RISP situations with 10 stranded. The White Sox also stranded 10, but they were 5-for-11 in the clutch.
