Twins blast White Sox to narrow gap in AL Central

[September 17, 2020]  Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano hit two-run homers and Eddie Rosario hit a solo shot as the Minnesota Twins collected a 5-1 victory over the host Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

Buxton's homer was his fifth in his past eight games and helped the Twins rebound from losing the first two contests of the four-game set against their American League Central rivals. Minnesota trails first-place Chicago by two games in the division race.

White Sox slugger Jose Abreu smacked his 16th homer of the season but Chicago had just two hits while seeing its six-game winning streak conclude.

Twins right-hander Cody Stashak (1-0) recorded his first major league victory with 2 1/3 perfect innings of relief. Tyler Duffey pitched two perfect innings and fellow right-hander Trevor May struck out the side in the ninth as Minnesota relievers retired all 16 batters they faced.

White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (4-3) gave up three runs and three hits (including two homers) over six innings. He struck out four and walked three as Chicago lost for just the sixth time in its past 28 games.

Minnesota right-hander Jake Odorizzi departed with two outs in the fourth inning due to a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. He gave up one run, two hits, walked one and struck out three before exiting.

Odorizzi was making his first start since suffering a chest contusion on Aug. 21 when he was struck by a liner off the bat of Kansas City's Alex Gordon.

Rosario led off the second inning with his 11th homer as he sent a 2-2 changeup over the wall in right.

White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (27) throws a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports

Rosario began the fourth inning with a walk and Buxton came up one out later and swatted a first-pitch fastball from Giolito over the fence in center, just above the leap of Chicago's Luis Robert. The homer was Buxton's 10th of the season.

The White Sox got on the board in the fourth on Abreu's blast. Abreu lined a 3-2 splitter from Odorozzi over the fence in left.

Odorizzi retired the next two batters and left with a 2-1 count on James McCann. Stashak got the final two strikes to end the inning as the start of the torrid bullpen pitching.

Minnesota added on in the eighth as Josh Donaldson drew a leadoff walk off right-hander Matt Foster and Sano came up two outs later and drilled a 3-1 blast over the fence in center to make it 5-1. The homer was Sano's 12th of the season.

--Field Level Media

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