Byron Buxton's walk-off bomb completes Twins' sweep over White Sox
Byron Buxton homered twice including a dramatic walk-off blast in the bottom of the 10th inning to help the Minnesota Twins defeat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Buxton had already hit a two-run homer to level the tie at 3-3, and came to the plate in extra innings with two on and one out, taking Liam Hendriks into the upper deck in left-field.
The Twins day began with a shaky outing from Chris Archer. Tim Anderson punished the right-hander early by smashing a leadoff home run on the first pitch to put Minnesota in an early hole.
While the White Sox didn't tag Archer on the scoreboard too bad, he didn't have his best stuff. In 61 pitches on the afternoon, he threw just 31 for strikes. Those control issues surfaced in the third inning when Chicago mounted a bases-loaded rally.
Andrew Vaughn cashed in with an RBI single but Trevor Larnach threw a missile from left field to get Jose Abreu at home plate and keep the game at 2-0.
Gio Urshela helped the Twins chip into the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and Josh Winder came out of the bullpen to keep the game within reach.
The rookie turned in another strong outing, tossing four innings and only allowing one run on a seventh-inning homer to Danny Mendick. With a stellar defensive play by Urshela later in the inning, the Twins entered the bottom of the seventh down 3-1.
Jose Godoy opened the inning with a walk before Buxton crushed a Jake Bummer sinker into the right field overhang to tie the game at 3-3.
Buxton's fifth home run of the season gave the Twins new life. But they couldn't come up with the clutch hit. The Twins had runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Godoy failed to execute a squeeze play, popping out to Kendall Graveman.
The Twins had another opportunity in the eighth when Buxton walked to load the bases, but Luis Arraez grounded out to second base to end the threat.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Twins got runners on first and second with one out. But Hendriks got Gilberto Celestino to line out to center before striking out Nick Gordon to get out of the jam.
The game went to extra innings where Yasmani Grandal singled off the right field wall to drive in the go-ahead run. But the Twins had one final chance.
With two men on, Buxton delivered again, sending a 469-foot homer to the third deck in left field to send everyone home and complete a three-game sweep over the White Sox.
After an off day on Monday, the Twins (8-8) will open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. Chris Paddack (0-2, 5.00 ERA) will get the ball in the opener against Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1, 5.27 ERA).
