Twins 10, White Sox 2: Gee, dingers salvage split

After a disappointing 7-6 loss in the first game of a doubleheader, the Twins were forced to rely on a second emergency starter against the Chicago White Sox at whatever their stadium’s dumb name is now. The White Sox, being bad, made this much less dicier than it should have been, as Dillon Gee and the Twins offense rolled the South Siders, 10-2.

Gee was outstanding, pitching six innings and making two mistakes: a solo dong from Nicky Delmonico and a meaningless Leury Garcia double. 69 pitches, 42 strikes. Nice, and possibly buys him another starting shot for a rotation in flux.

The Twins offense provided ample support. Jorge Polanco, whose 3-run homer brought Minnesota agonizingly close to victory in Game 1, got the offense started in Game 2 with another sloppy 3-run tater in the second inning. Brian Dozier added his own 3-run dong shot in the second off Sox starter Carson Fulmer, who was bad.

Fulmer left the game in the second, but the Twins did not stop mashing. Byron Buxton extended his hitting streak to 12 with another solo shot, and Jason Castro added his own as well. Other runs scored: a run-scoring double play grounder from Eddie Rosario, and a pinch-hit single from Twins reliever/catcher Chris Gimenez.

Tyler Duffey relieved Gee, giving up just one run in his three innings of work. Only three relievers were needed in the two games, which is astonishing given who started.

The victory pulls the Twins even with the Angels at 64-60 and a share of the second wild-card spot. Los Angeles is losing to Texas at the time of this writing. I hope the Rally Monkey falls down a flight of stairs and hurts himself. Not a bad injury, but enough to make him think twice.

ROBOT ROLL CALL

STUDS: Gee, Polanco, Dozier, Buxton

DUDS: Fulmer

Enjoy the rest of your week, everybody.