Berrios pitches Twins past White Sox

[September 29, 2018]    Jose Berrios struck out nine batters while giving up one run and three hits over seven innings, and Robbie Grossman had two hits and two walks to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday afternoon in the first game of a split doubleheader at Target Field in Minneapolis.

White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (27) throws to the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

It was just the third win since pitching in the All-Star Game for Berrios (12-11), who became the eighth player in Minnesota history to record 200 strikeouts in a season when he got Daniel Palka to whiff in the sixth inning.

Berrios, who walked four, struck out the side in both the first and sixth innings and became the first Twins pitcher to hit the 200-strikeout mark since Francisco Liriano in 2010, finishing with 202 strikeouts in 192 1/3 innings to go with a 3.84 ERA.

Trevor May struck out both batters he faced to pick up his second save. Left-hander Taylor Rogers gave up one hit over 1 1/3 innings to extend his scoreless innings streak to 25 innings dating back to July 30.

Joe Mauer went 2-for-4 and scored a run, and Willians Astudillo drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly for Minnesota (75-84), which won its third game in a row. It was the 20th RBI in 27 games for Astudillo.

Reynaldo Lopez (7-10) gave up two runs on four hits and five walks and struck out five to take the loss for Chicago (62-97), which fell two games behind Detroit (64-95) in the battle for third place in the American League Central.

Mauer opened the game with an infield single, advanced to third on a double by Jake Cave and then scored on a groundout by Tyler Austin to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead.

The White Sox tied it in the third on an infield RBI single by Leury Garcia, driving in Tim Anderson, who reached base on a fielder's choice.

Lopez started the sixth by walking Cave, Robbie Grossman and Austin to load the bases. But the Twins managed just a one-out sacrifice fly to center by Astudillo to drive in Cave for what proved to be the game-winning run.

The White Sox nearly tied it in the eighth when Avisail Garcia drilled what turned out to be a two-out, 346-foot single off the front of the limestone flower bed overhang at the top of the right field fence that Max Kepler quickly retrieved. Palka then struck out to end the inning.

--Field Level Media

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