Buxton, Cruz help Twins grind out 3-2 victory
Things got off to a great start for White Sox hitters on Tuesday against Minnesota. Unfortunately, the first inning was the only time the White Sox scored, as they took a 3-2 loss to the Twins.
On the third pitch of the game, Tim Anderson hit a soft grounder to second base, and he legged out an infield single. Then José Abreu, tonight's No. 3 hitter, followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Those hits set the table for Eloy Jiménez, who launched a double with two outs. Eloy's hit left the bat at 111.6 mph, and its expected batting average was .780. Most importantly, the double gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
The two-run first inning gave starter Dallas Keuchel some breathing room. In the bottom of the third, the Twins threatened to score, putting runners on first and second with two outs. On a 3-0 count, Marwin González launched a line drive down the left-field line that barely sliced foul. González's liner would have scored at least one run, but fortunately, he eventually grounded into a force out to end the inning.
The Twins finally got on the board in the fifth, when González drove in a run with a groundout. The run was not charged as an earned run, because if Abreu had held onto a throw from Nick Madrigal, it would have been an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. As a result, Keuchel's final line was five innings, one run (zero earned), seven hits, two walks, four strikeouts.
Unlike Keuchel, the bullpen got off to a rough start. In the sixth, Jake Cave and Luis Arráez got back-to-back, pinch-hit, extra-base hits to tie the game. Fortunately, Jimmy Cordero limited the damage to one run, so the game remained tied.
Meanwhile, the White Sox struggled to come up with offense after the eventful first inning. The closest they came to scoring after that point was a deep fly ball (103.8 mph exit velocity, 38-degree launch angle, 385 feet, .480 xBA) by Edwin Encarnación that Byron Buxton made an excellent play on.
Speaking of Buxton, in the seventh, he put the Twins ahead on an RBI single to make the score 3-2. Nelson Cruz, who finished 3-for-3 with a double and a walk, was the one who scored the go-ahead run. Cruz is slashing .328/.421/.680 (189 wRC+) this season, as he just continues to crush the White Sox, and pretty much everyone, for that matter.
With the score still 3-2, Jiménez led off the ninth inning. The Big Baby smacked a pitch by Matt Wisler 103.6 mph (.420 expected batting average) toward third base. But, instead of going down the left-field line for a double, Twins third baseman Ehire Adrianza made an excellent play to rob Jiménez of a hit.
The White Sox went down quietly after that, so they fell to 22-14. Cleveland beat Kansas City, so they are once again tied with the White Sox for first place in the AL Central, at 22-14. Minnesota improved to 21-16, and the Tigers are somehow not entirely out of it, as they improved to 17-16.
The White Sox are back in action tomorrow night against the Twins, where Reynaldo López and José Berríos are the probable starters. That game will also start at 7:10 p.m. CT, NBC Sports Chicago will televise it, and WGN 720 will have the radio coverage.