Twins 6, White Sox 3: Kaattack of the Bombas

The pre-game festivities led seamlessly into some in-game fireworks, as the Twins used the long ball to rough up the Sox early, earning a 6-3 win this Saturday afternoon.

Minnesota unleashed an early outburst against old friend Lance Lynn. Fired up by some of that hot induction action, Luis Arraez decided to launch a leadoff homer into right-center. It was the first of three homers hit by the Twins in the first three innings; a five-run third featured a Carlos Correa two-run blast and a Jorge Polanco three-run shot; make it 25 combined homers for the team’s middle-infield tandem.

Correa’s was particularly impressive:

Unfortunately, Chicago pitching would begin to lock things down. Minnesota didn’t score again for the remainder of the game, with Lance Lynn pitching two scoreless innings to finish his start.

Dylan Bundy allowed three fewer runs and recorded one more out than Lynn did; the Sox earned a run on a Jose Abreu groundout in the top of the fourth, before stringing together three straight hits off Bundy, the last of which was a two-run single off the bat of Andrew Vaughn that chased the Oklahoman hurler from the game.

From there, both bullpens kept things quiet. Trevor Megill and Griffin Jax kept things tidy during their assignments, leading into a two-inning save opportunity for Jhoan Duran (the eighth would see the tying run come to the plate for Chicago to no avail.) Four different relievers would do the same job for the South Siders.

Duran’s ninth saw Adam Engel reach with two outs, and the young fireballer’s pitch count reach 40, in part due to a brutal full-count battle with Tim Anderson — but on his 40th and final pitch, Anderson grounded out to third, and the Twins worked their way into the win column in their final series ahead of the break.

Despite Chicago’s best efforts to make the contrary true, the Twins were in control of this one for the balance of the game. They have a chance to split the series tomorrow in their 94th game of the season — and their final affair before Luis Arraez and Byron Buxton pack their bags and head for Hollywood to film the buddy cop flick of the decade.

STUDS:

1B Luis Arraez (1-for-4, R, RBI, HR)

SS Carlos Correa (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR)

2B Jorge Polanco (2-for-4, R, 3 RBI, HR)

DUDS:

I kaan’t believe you would even say that.