The Chicago White Sox jumped on Pablo López early and the Minnesota Twins’ magic number to clinch the American League Central remains at 7 after a 7-6 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on Saturday night.
The Twins got on the board in the first inning when Royce Lewis delivered an RBI single but he gave the run back in the bottom of the first inning when his throwing error preceded a two-run homer by Eloy Jiminez.
The White Sox extended their lead later in the first inning after Yoan Moancada and Andrew Vaughn reached on singles and López served up a three-run homer to Gavin Sheets.
With the Twins down 5-1, they couldn’t figure out White Sox starter Touki Toussaint, who struck out eight batters while allowing one run on three hits and a walk over five innings.
The Twins had their chances to get back into the game including a bases-loaded rally in the sixth inning that ended with a Kyle Farmer strikeout and while they scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning, they did so without a hit.
The Twins got another run back when Farmer drew a bases-loaded walk by Tanner Banks with two outs in the top of the ninth inning but Willi Castro popped out in the following at-bat to end the game.
López recovered to throw four shutout innings to finish his outing but he wound up allowing five runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts over five innings.
Lewis finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, a walk and an RBI while Jorge Polanco went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. Edouard Julien also went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored.
With the Cleveland Guardians defeating the Texas Rangers 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, the Twins will look to move one step closer to clinching the division when Sonny Gray takes the mound against Dylan Cease in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
