The Twins gutted out a victory over the White Sox 3-2 Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Minnesota trailed 2-1 until they plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Christian Vazquez doubled to score Byron Buxton and then Michael Taylor followed with a single to score Kyle Farmer for the go-ahead run. The Twins had the bases loaded and only one out but they failed to build on the lead, leaving it up to the bullpen to save the game and they got the job done.
Griffin Jax pitched around a hit and a walk for a scoreless eighth inning and Jhoan Duran earned his 17th save of the season in the ninth, although he did allow a pair of hits before striking out Luis Robert with a 102.5 mph fastball to end the game.
Duran allowed two infield singles but was otherwise dominant, also striking out Carlos Perez and Andrew Benintendi. He got Perez with a curve ball that had 47 inches of vertical drop and he struck out Benintendi 101.6 mph fastball.
Benintendi saw seven pitches in his at-bat and all of them were strikes, including six fastball clocked at 100+ mph and one splitter at a ridiculous 99.1 mph.
At 52-48 the Twins are 7-2 since the All-Star break and they own a two-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central race.
Up next: Twins vs. White Sox on Sunday at 1:10 p.m.
