White Sox win a game with lots of fireworks on Friday night

The Chicago White Sox came into this series with the Minnesota Twins with some momentum after taking two straight games and the series over the Kansas City Royals. It is a series that should be considered a must-win for both Chicago and Minnesota.

With both of these teams along with the Cleveland Guardians bunched up at the top of the division, it is obviously a big game for both sides. The winner of the series could very well come out in first place depending on what the Guardians do vs the Seattle Mariners.

This was supposed to be Michael Kopech’s day to start and he isn’t back from injury yet so they went a little off the wall. Instead of having Davis Martin make the start, they went with Joe Kelly as the opener.

This move didn’t really work out well for the White Sox as Kelly (who is having an awful year) allowed two runs in the first inning. On a day when the White Sox didn’t have Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, and Eloy Jimenez in the lineup, they were behind early.

The Chicago White Sox dug deep and earned a big win over the Minnesota Twins.

From there, however, the rest of the pitchers that went (Davis Martin, Reynaldo Lopez, Jimmy Lambert, and Liam Hendriks) only allowed one total run. That is not bad at all, especially for Martin who went 5.0 strong innings where he only allowed three hits and no runs.

They probably should have just started with Martin but everything worked out well as the White Sox offense clawed out just enough to get the big win. They walked off the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the ninth inning but they needed some big moments to get there.

Down 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, the White Sox needed someone to come up clutch. Yasmani Grandal, who is having a horrific season as well, came up big and tied the game with a big-time home run.

It was a huge game for him as he was very good behind the plate and had two hits to go with two RBIs. If Yasmani can find a way to stay consistently good for the rest of the season, the White Sox will win some extra games.

There were more than just some home run or victory fireworks in the ninth inning. With runners on first and second, Andrew Vaughn was hit by a pitch up high. He was not happy about it and both he and pitcher Jorge Lopez started mouthing off to each other.

That led to the benches clearing as Lance Lynn and Miguel Cairo led the way with the yelling. No ejections came of it as cooler heads prevailed but there were definitely some annoyed humans out there.

Jose Abreu came up to bat with a chance to win it. The game was thought to be over when it appeared that he was also hit by a pitch but a video review revealed that it actually hit the bat before hitting his hand.

Later in the sequence, Abreu hit into a fielder’s choice and the White Sox won on a walk-off. It was a great moment that appeared to galvanize the guys. Hopefully, they can carry that momentum forward.

On Saturday night, the White Sox will use Dylan Cease as they try to take the series from the Twins. He will face Tyler Mahle. With the way that Cease has pitched this season, the White Sox bats showing up should help them take this one but we will see.