MINNEAPOLIS — At this stage, the Twins will take a win any way they can get one.
Another night of offensive ineptitude had fans muted and the scoreboard flooded with scoreless innings until everything was turned inside out by an outbreak of defensive madness by the White Sox. The Twins scored two runs on an infield hit in the eighth to carve out a 2-1 win in front of an announced crowd of 14,257 at Target Field.
The Twins have won consecutive games for the first time since April 9 and 10 against Seattle.
Things looked bleak in the eighth as Chicago reliever Kendall Graveman, handed a 1-0 lead, got the first two outs. But Ryan Jeffers, a late addition to the lineup when Gary Sanchez was scratched, one-hopped a drive into the left-center stands for a ground rule double.
Graveman's first pitch to Luis Arraez was wild, allowing Jeffers to advance to third. Arraez then walked to put runners on first and third.
Carlos Correa followed with a hard grounder into hole at short that was grabbed by Tim Anderson, who then threw wildly to first base. Jeffers scored and Arraez headed to third. White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu then threw wildly to home plate, the ball reaching the fence in front of the White Sox dugout. Graveman, who was backing up the play, got to the ball but had no play at home as Arraez scored and Correa punched the air after sliding into second.
It was just a matter of closing out the win at that point. The duty was given to Emilio Pagan, who promptly gave up a leadoff double to Eloy Jimenez before issuing one out walks to A.J. Pollack and Andrew Vaughn.
Pagan stiffened, getting Reese McGuire to pop out to short. But Pagan ran the count full to Jake Berger. With no place to put him, Pagan fired a fastball that caught the bottom inside corner of the plate to the game-ending strikeout.
Before that, it was quite an offensive onslaught but the Twins. A line drive single by Arraez in the first. A double to right by Trevor Larnach in the second then an anti-shift infield single by Larnach in the fifth. The Twins have found that having success at the plate has been more elusive than a Minnesota spring.
While the Twins' starting pitching has been pleasant surprise, as the unit's 2.80 ERA entering play Friday was fifth best in baseball, the offense has scored three or fewer runs in eight of its last 10 games. Right-hander Bailey Ober was on point Friday, holding the White Sox to one run over five innings. That run happened to be an Andrew Vaughn home run in the fifth to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
The Twins offensive struggles have forced manager Rocco Baldelli to search for ways to get Arraez's bat in the game more frequently. On Friday, he started at first base for the second consecutive night. Miguel Sano was the designated hitter, where he continues to be a hair late on catching up to fastballs. Correa has grounded into five double plays this season. Max Kepler is taking fastballs down the middle of the plate.
Meanwhile, Byron Buxton had a scheduled day off after being the DH on Thursday. He should be in the lineup on Saturday, and it couldn't come too soon.
The Twins showed early promise against hard throwing right-hander Michael Kopech, as the first three hitters worked the count full. Arraez hit his single on a 3-2 pitch, but Correa smashed a grounder right at Anderson to start a double play. Jorge Polanco walked but attempted to steal second on 2-0 pitch to Kepler and was thrown out.
Kopech threw 24 pitches that inning but pitched better after that.
And it sure looked like the Twins offense was going to let them down again. Until the White Sox defense let them down.
