MINNEAPOLIS — The worst part, for those in attendance on Wednesday, was the sound.
Lucas Giolito's 65th pitch of the game was a 91.6-mph fastball that locked in on Twins shortstop Kyle Farmer. The sound of the baseball hitting Farmer's face will be hard to forget.
Giolito spun away and threw his arms up on the mound, and Farmer crumbled and lay motionless on the ground. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and the team's training staff rushed to home plate. After a few moments, Farmer got up and was helped off the field carefully.
The Twins announced later in their 3-1 victory that Farmer had a jaw injury.
Afterward, the news was as encouraging as it could have been: Farmer was headed to surgery to reset teeth and to repair what Baldelli called a "substantial" laceration of the jaw.
But no break.
"Some sort of miracle," Baldelli said, "if that is the case."
The Twins scored the first run later in that fourth inning, as the White Sox defense is the gift that keeps on giving. Ryan Jeffers reached third base when outfielder Gavin Sheets got his feet tangled while getting under Jeffers' fly ball and fell, allowing the ball to roll away.
Jeffers should have been thrown out attempting to score from third on Michael A. Taylor's grounder to first. But Chicago first baseman Andrew Vaughn bobbled the ball, eliminating a throw home. With two insurance runs in the eighth, the Twins were able to take the three-game series from the White Sox and move to 8-4 on the season. Right-hander Sonny Gray, who was under the weather, improved to 2-0. But Farmer's injury was on every Twin's mind.
"We wanted to win it for him right there," Taylor said.
There was a suspicious end to the top of the seventh with Elvis Andrus at the plate. With an 0-1 pitch, Jorge López let a fastball go that forced Andrus to tumble to the ground or risk getting beaned. The at-bat ended with Andrus grounding out on the next pitch, ending the inning.
Jeffers, the catcher, made a point of meeting López at the foul line while pumping a fist and shaking his hand. It was an interesting moment in which the White Sox shortstop bites the dust after the Twins shortstop gets hit in the jaw. Street justice, to an extent, might have been at work.
But we're not through April yet, and the Twins have no extra infielders on their 40-man roster after calling up Edouard Julien on Wednesday. Some of the injuries are lingering from last season, as Jorge Polanco (knee) and Alex Kirilloff (wrist) are on rehabilitation assignments at Class A Fort Myers. They have been joined by new injuries, such as Max Kepler (knee) and Joey Gallo (intercostal strain).
Then on Wednesday, Farmer and Byron Buxton leave the game.
Oh yeah, Buxton, the All-Star who is the designated hitter during the first weeks of the season in an effort to keep him on the field all year, left the game in the seventh after colliding with White Sox infielder Lenyn Sosa as Sosa fielded a grounder. Buxton was upended, his head hit the dirt and he was down for a couple of moments before leaving the field. Buxton indicated after the game that he was fine.
The Twins, all wearing black sweatsuits, headed for New York after the game ahead of a three-game series against the Yankees. Baldelli will sort out who is available then.
Being able to win on a physically and mentally trying day made the trip easier.
"Sonny was sick before the game started," Buxton said. "Him coming out and doing what he did to try to get us the win is pretty incredible. It shows the group of guys we've got in here. Farmer, that shakes up everybody.
"You couldn't hear a pin drop for three innings. It was kind of weird in the dugout. It's just one of those things where ... just win the game."
