Red hot Alejandro De Aza started the scoring off with a solo HR in the second, his third in as many games.
The Keystone Sox allowed 3 unearned runs in the third inning. Eduardo Escobar reached on a dropped third strike by Tyler Flowers with one out. He was awarded second after being caught in a run down via interference by Jose Abreu. Two walks and a fly out later, Chris Colabello doubled to clear the bases.
The Twins went up 5-1 in the fifth frame. It was all Colabello, when he knocked in two more with another double, well on his way to having himself a nice day at the plate.
Abreu doubled to score Adam Eaton getting one back in the bottom of the inning, followed by an Adam Dunn homer to cut the lead to one.
Then in sixth, after a bases-loaded walk by Marcus Semien, Jose "The Masher of the Midway" Abreu was at it again, clearing the bases with a triple against Anthony Swarzak and putting the White Sox in front 8-5. How did the big fella manage a triple you ask? Well, just watch:
Not his best route. Maybe the wind was a factor.
Colabello racked up his sixth RBI of the day in the top of the seventh on a ground out, and then Trevor Plouffe knocked in Mauer trimming the lead to one. The damage was done against Nate Jones, who was just plain lousy out there this afternoon, walking both batters he faced.
It would have been more runs for Minnesota, but Adam Eaton made a great play on a ball crushed over his head by Oswaldo Arcia to end the inning. I expect to see a lot of No. 1 shirseys on the South Side this year.
Josmil Pinto homered for Minnesota to tie the game at 8 in the eighth, robbing Jose Quintana of his "W" and saddling him with the more familiar "ND." Quintana worked six innings, struck out eight, walked three, and only the last two of the five runs scored on his watch were earned.
Semien answered with his first hit of the season, a solo blast in the bottom of eight, giving the Sox the lead back.
Matt Lindstrom came on to try for the save in the ninth inning. He struck out Joe Mauer looking, and die Mauer didn't like that one bit. He gave C.B. Bucknor an earful before going back to the dugout. The strike zone was wildly inconsistent all game. The low strike was called a ball, several balls were called strikes. Typical game with Bucknor behind the plate, really.
Josh Willingham walked. Pinch-runnerJason Bartlett advanced to second on a groundout and came around to score on a base hit by Plouffe. Oswaldo Arcia drove him home with a triple, getting one over Eaton's head this time. The two tallies put the Twins up by one.
With one down in the 9th, Dayan Viciedo (pinch-hitting for AL home run leader De Aza) hit a weak popup down the first base line. It dropped in fair. They tried to get him at second, the ball skittered away, and Viciedo took third with no one covering. Setting the stage for a Paul Konerko pinch hit.
This game really did have everything. Too bad Paulie grounded out to end the game.
Caleb Thielbar gave up the tying HR to Semien in his one inning of work and was rewarded with the win. Glen Perkins picked up the save.
Tyler Flowers went 4-for-4 but was lifted for pinch-hittin' Konerko in the 9th. Too bad about that dropped third strike early on.
So what did we learn from all this? There were flashes of 2013 with the terrible fundamentals early on. The new additions lead the offense charging back into this one, but then the bullpen was bad. It's not a sweep, but a series win is a nice way to start the season anyway.
Record: 2-1 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights