Twins 4, White Sox 2: Score closer than the game

It seemed like the Twins scored more than four runs, not just because they figured out David Holmberg before he could make it two turns through the lineup, but because the White Sox played pretty poor defense behind him as well.

Both those factors allowed the Twins to take the lead with a three-run third. Miguel Sano led off the inning with a homer on a 3-0 fastball to tie it, and then Tim Anderson couldn’t handle Robbie Grossman’s hard one-hopper for an error. Back-to-back singles gave the Twins the lead and put an insurance run on third.

Holmberg gave himself a chance to wriggle out of it by getting a shallow flyout, followed by a grounder to second, but Anderson couldn’t find the ears on Yolmer Sanchez’s feed to botch the double play, allowing the Twins’ fourth run to score.

Holmberg finished the third, but he could only get one out in the fourth before yielding to Gregory Infante and Michael Ynoa. Infante allowed a pair of hits and three walks over 2 ¹⁄₃ innings, and Ynoa gave up a hit and a walk over his seven outs. The Sox continued to forget rudimentary defensive duties like checking runners, calling for infield pop-ups or covering bases.

And yet the Twins didn’t score again. They went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12.

Alas, the White Sox offense was only good for five hits and a walk against Jose Berrios and Brandon Kintzler. Alen Hanson drew the lone walk to start the game and ended up coming around on a groundout and an Avisail Garcia single.

Hanson also contributed to the Sox’ second run in the third. After Adam Engel hit a chopper over Eduardo Escobar’s head for a double, Hanson bunted him to third with a single. Engel then came home, but on a Melky Cabrera double play that gave the Sox a brief 2-1 lead but reset the rally.

Then the Sox went dormant except for Garcia. He reached on an error to start the fourth, then singled off the right-field wall with two outs in the ninth. Nothing happened in between, which is reflected in the box score. He went 2-for-4, but the two hitters in front of him and the three hitters behind him combined to go 0-for-18 with six strikeouts.

Record: 31-39 | Box score