White Sox beat Twins to complete second straight sweep
MINNESOTA (Reuters) – Tim Anderson and Jake Lamb each hit solo home runs and the Chicago White Sox held on for a 4-2 win to complete a three-game sweep over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon.
Andrew Vaughn and Yermin Mercedes also drove in one run apiece for Chicago, which won its sixth game in a row. After losing eight of their first 14 games, the White Sox now have the best record in the major leagues at 22-13.
Max Kepler homered to lead the Twins at the plate. Jorge Polanco and Trevor Larnach each doubled for Minnesota, which has lost four straight games and seven of its last eight.
White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn (4-1) continued his terrific start to the season. He allowed one unearned run on two hits in five innings while walking three and striking out nine. His ERA decreased from 1.52 to 1.30 on the season.
Twins right-hander Michael Pineda (2-2) took the loss. He gave up three runs, all earned, on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out seven.
White Sox closer Liam Hendriks pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his seventh save.
Chicago jumped to a quick lead in the bottom of the first. Anderson pulled a first-pitch fastball over the wall in left field for his fifth homer of the season.
Lamb followed up with his first White Sox homer in the third. With two strikes and two outs, he clubbed a 395-foot shot to right-center field for his first homer since Sept. 27, 2020, with the Oakland Athletics.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 2-1 in the fourth. A throwing error by Lynn allowed Larnach to score.
Vaughn’s RBI single in the sixth increased Chicago’s lead to 3-1. The timely hit came one day after the rookie hit his first career home run.
Kepler hit his third homer to pull the Twins within 3-2 in the eighth. Minnesota had a chance to even the score or go ahead with runners on first and second with one out, but Hendriks came out of the bullpen to record the final two outs of the inning and end the scoring threat.
The White Sox finished the scoring on Mercedes’ pinch-hit, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
