Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez made his third start against the Chicago White Sox tonight. In Lopez's previous two outings, the White Sox jumped out to an early lead only for their offense to stall. Both of those games went into extra innings, with the Twins winning.
It was more similar in tonight's game but on a larger scale. Tim Anderson singled and advanced to second base off a Royce Lewis throwing error. A couple of batters later, Eloy Jimenez tagged Lopez for a two-run homer. This is the second home run for Jimenez against Lopez in 2023 and his 17th of 2023.
Even though there were two outs, the White Sox offense didn't stop. Yoan Moncada and Andrew Vaughn singled, setting the stage for Gavin Sheets. On a 0-2 curveball, Sheets barreled up the pitch for a three-run homer to right field. Suddenly, the White Sox put up a five-spot on Lopez and the Twins.
Those were the only runs Lopez allowed as he lasted five innings and struck out eight. But another pleasant surprise was how well Touki Toussaint pitched. After getting embarrassed by Kansas City allowing eight runs in just an inning of work, Toussaint allowed one run to Minnesota.
Pedro Grifol kept Toussaint to 74 pitches, but he was very effective, allowing three hits and walking one batter. Eye-opening was Toussaint striking out eight, his most since August 8 against the New York Yankees.
White Sox added two more runs in the seventh inning. Elvis Andrus and Tim Anderson doubled down the left-field line, and Andrew Benintendi picked up an RBI single, pushing the lead to 7-1.
Gregory Santos had a rough eighth inning. Lacking command early, Santos walked Jorge Polanco and Royce Lewis to start the inning. Then back-to-back singles from Max Kepler and Carlos Correa turned up the heat. A Kyle Farmer RBI groundout was the first out for Santos, but the Twins already plated three runs.
Andrus made a nifty barehand play on Willi Castro's groundout for the second out, and Santos generated another grounder from Matt Wallner down the first base line. Andrew Vaughn lined up the play but didn't make the scoop, resulting in a fielding error. Another run scored, and the White Sox lead was cut down to 7-5.
In the ninth inning, Lane Ramsey was given the save opportunity. Ramsey got into hot water when Polanco and Lewis singled to put runners on the corners. With one out, Grifol changed his mind and swapped Ramsey for Tanner Banks to face Kepler.
Running the count full, Banks froze Kepler with a well-placed fastball for a strikeout. Banks walked Correa on four pitches with two outs, and the bases were loaded for Farmer. Working another full count, Banks missed wide and walked in another run, making it a one-run game.
With things getting dicey, Banks would finally get out of the jam as Castro fouled out to Vaughn, ending the game. The White Sox narrowly avoided blowing another six-run lead and snapped their four-game losing streak.
Game Notes:
- Tim Anderson had a good night going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI
- Elvis Andrus was 2-for-3
Record: 57-92
