White Sox complete sweep behind Latos, Garcia
By Brian Draus
The Chicago White Sox finished a three-game sweep over the Minnesota Twins this afternoon with a 3-1 win. The Twins offense struggled again, as they only scored two runs over the course of the series. Mat Latos was solid again, as he went six solid innings and only giving up one run. Here is the scoring recap:
For the first time all season, the White Sox dented home plate in the first inning. Adam Eaton led off the game with a double to left field, and Melky Cabrera followed him with a single through the hole into left field. With runners on the corners, Jose Abreu lined a single into left-center putting the Sox on top 1-0 after only three hitters. Twins starter Ervin Santana was able to get out of that jam with limited damage, as he struck out Todd Frazier and induced a double-play ground ball from Brett Lawrie.
The Sox would extend their lead in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs and no one on, Avisail Garcia crushed a ball out of the ballpark to center field. That home run followed a rocket to right-center which was run down by Max Kepler, otherwise the Sox would have gone up 3-0.
But, the score would be 2-0 as the game moved to the bottom of the fourth inning. Speaking of the bottom of the fourth inning, that is where the Twins would score their lone run of the ballgame. Joe Mauer led off the inning with a triple down the line in left. The next hitter, Trevor Plouffe grounded out to shortstop Tyler Saladino, scoring Mauer. Only one other baserunner would reach base (Melky Cabrera single) until the bottom of the sixth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Twins made a crucial baserunning mistake. After a single and a stolen base by Eddie Rosario, Joe Mauer hit a ground ball to Sox 3B Todd Frazier. Rosario got caught in between 2nd and 3rd base, and was tagged out in a rundown while failed to make it to second base. The baserunning mistake cost the Twins momentum and took them out of a scoring opportunity, which were few and far between in this series.
Avi Garcia would strike again in the top of the seventh, as he doubled off the right-center field wall to lead off the inning. After a J.B. Shuck sacrifice, Garcia was standing on third base with only one out. Tyler Saladino came to the plate, and he delivered a sacrifice fly, scoring Garcia on a close play at home plate. That would be the end of the scoring in the ballgame.
The only other chance the Twins had to score was the bottom of the seventh, as they had runners on second and third with two outs (error involved). However, Brian Dozier hit a soft comebacker to the pitcher ending the inning. From there on out, Zach Duke, Nate Jones, and David Robertson shut the Twins down in order to end the ballgame.
Final Score: 3-1
Next Game: At Tampa Bay Rays (6:10 PM CST-Chris Sale vs Jake Odorizzi)