May strikes out 10 as Twins top White Sox, 6-4

In the battle between whether to watch the Twins or the Vikings, it can sometimes be difficult to chose the Twins. Minnesota's baseball team has been in a tailspin, and Minnesota's football team can appeal to viewers because of the freshness of a new season and the potential for the team to actually be competitive. This was certainly the case one week ago.

Today? If you didn't turn off the Vikings game, there is something wrong with you. The Twins were the better viewing today, with Trevor May leading the way.

Only two of May's strikeouts came on that potentially devastating curveball. Seven of the remaining eight were thanks to the fastball, with a change getting a token showing. But a Trevor May start isn't a Trevor May start without a nightmare inning, and it came in the bottom of the fourth.

Minnesota was leading 4-0. Trevor Plouffe had hit a solo homer in the second, and Jordan Schafer hit his first bomb of the season in the top of the fourth with a two-run blast to lead the way. But the first four White Sox players that came to the plate would reach on a double and three singles, and Chicago would close the gap to 4-2. It looked like a train wreck waiting to happen, but the Twins bided their time with a Rick Anderson visit to the mound.

What did Anderson say? Did they remind May to keep his should in? To maintain his downward plane? To drive off the back foot? The world may never know, but whatever Anderson said - it worked. May struck out the next three batters he faced.

Kurt Suzuki plated a pair of big runs, one in the seventh and one in the ninth, and it was enough to keep the Twins on top. Jose Abreu did crush an 0-2 slider off of Glen Perkins into the seats for his 35th homer to lead off the top of the ninth, but Chicago couldn't close the gap any further.

Game Notes

• May has now was his last three starts, and it feels like those were also the last three games the Twins have won. In that time he's amassed 16 innings, striking out 19 and walking five. He was a lot of fun to watch today, for the most part, and it's nice to see him getting more comfortable.
• Jordan Schafer had two hits today, a pair of runs batted in, and two more steals. He's stolen 29 bases this year, 14 for Minnesota.
• Trevor Plouffe has homered in back-to-back games, and with 14 home runs has tied his total from 2014. His overall line is better than it was last year, however, with his .251/.322/.427 line producing a .749 triple slash. It's not great, but it's also not bad. It's the kind of production you'd like to see from a bench player - which is where Plouffe will be at this time next year, should Miguel Sano prove he's ready for the big time. (Just thinking ahead.)
• Oswaldo Arcia is hitting .355 in his last ten games, with three home runs but more impressively - five walks.
• Was this the first game off for Kennys Vargas? He's been slumping pretty hard lately, so it was probably a good idea to get him a little time off at some point.