The initial views of the White Sox offense without Luis Robert Jr. and Miguel Vargas suggested that the young unit would struggle to keep up the pace and promise of the initial weeks after the All-Star break, unless Colson Montgomery could actually homer every single day.
But for whatever reason, trade deadline impact or otherwise, a trip to Minneapolis has had a way of restoring their thunder, even with Montgomery working at half his customary pace. Four homers, fronted by a two-dinger night from Andrew Benintendi, and including back-to-back seventh inning solo shots from Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa, headlined the 12-run outburst. Yet a young lineup's progress could also be measured by their performance against a bog standard multi-inning right-handed reliever.
The weekend before last in Chicago, Thomas Hatch came on in relief after the Sox lineup thrashed the since-optioned starter Mick Abel, and saved the Minnesota bullpen with five innings of one-run ball while aggressively attacking the zone. On Tuesday night, after starter Simeon Woods-Richardson turned over a 3-3 game after five innings, Sox hitters made Hatch's two innings the undoing of the contest.
The sixth inning looked forgivable enough for Hatch, where a leadoff walk to Colson Montgomery was worsened by a fielding error behind it, allowing both of the stung ground ball singles from Benintendi and Brooks Baldwin to plate runs. But the Sox offense started landing windmills slams when Hatch returned for the seventh, with Kyle Teel launching a fastball six inches above the zone out to right center, followed immediately by Lenyn Sosa nuking a hanger to left to go back-to-back. The power output showed to score those two runs was matched with a one out Curtis Mead infield single starting a string of four-straight singles of middling force, with Will Robertson's bases loaded bloop over a drawn-in infield plating another pair.
Benintendi opened the scoring on the night by scooping a Woods-Richardson slider on a line out to right for a solo shot in the second, and landed the coup de grace in the eighth. Twins reliever Noah Davis entered the night with an 18.00 ERA and an amazing -1.1 bWAR in just nine innings of work, but he was a strike away from stranding a pair of runners when Benintendi obliterated a hanging sweeper to pad out the final score.
The late knockout punches made a cozy winner of Davis Martin, who weathered his own early trip to the mat to provide a yeoman's quality start (6 IP, 3 ER) on the heels of a bullpen day, and was rewarded with the type of offensive support that shows how valuable these sorts of outings are.
Martin allowed a triple to Byron Buxton to open his night, and an RBI single to Trevor Larnach on the very next pitch. But that inning couldn't have annoyed him more than walking backup catcher Mickey Gasper in the second with two outs, only to watch him steal second and score on a bloop single from No. 9 hitter Ryan Fitzgerald.
His outing teetered on the edge of real disaster in the fourth. A solid leadoff single was followed by a soft one, but Martin looked most on the ropes as he balked the runners forward right before losing an 0-2 count to walk the light-hitting James Outman, loading the bases with no one out. It was there that a listless Twins team began to intervene, and to Martin's credit, he let them.
Gasper's lazy fly to left easily had the distance to bring home a run, but Austin Martin at second either had way too much respect for Benintendi's arm or not nearly enough, with no in between, as he was easily nabbed trying to advance to third by Bryan Ramos cutting off the the throw and running him out of the baseline. Two pitches later, Fitzgerald had inexplicably popped up a bunt to end the threat with only a run across.
At 3-1 after four innings, the Twins were within range for their defensive goofs to pull the game even. Woods-Richardson dodged a shard of Robertson's broken bat after a leadoff single in the fifth, only to fire the comebacker into center field--the first of two Twins errors--to put runners on the corners. Ramos hopped on the opportunity to make his first impact since returning to the majors by clubbing a grooved fastball off the right field wall for a two-run, game-tying double in the fifth.
A narrowly contested battle would have tested the White Sox bullpen depth or required some Grant Taylor hero ball, but Martin departed with a six-run lead. Newly recalled Bryan Hudson and Bryse Wilson combined for three scoreless innings to take it home.
Bullet points:
*Four home runs matches a season-high, which they have managed five times now.
*Benintendi had a monster night, driving in five on four hits, the two homers not withstanding. He won't admit any satisfaction with the state of his swing, but he has four multi-hit games in his last six.
*The Sox went 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position. There were some missed opportunities early, but there were too many chances and eventually too many conversions to dedicate space to discussing them.
*Hatch's last appearance against the Sox lowered his ERA from 4.30 to 3.66. This appearance took him from 3.86 to 5.48.
