Royce Lewis went 3-for-4 with a grand slam and Byron Buxton, Luke Keaschall and Edouard Julien each had two hits and an RBI to lift the visiting Minnesota Twins to a 9-7 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Friday.
Minnesota stopped a three-game losing streak while winning for just the second time in eight games.
Chicago drew to within 8-7 behind a three-run eighth inning that featured three hits and three walks. The rally ended when Lewis gunned down Miguel Vargas at the plate as the runner tried to tag up and score on Colson Montgomery’s foul popup behind third base.
Kody Funderburk (3-1) earned the victory with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Justin Topa got the final five outs for his third save, working around two hits and a walk.
Minnesota improved to 5-2 against Chicago this season.
Trevor Larnach and Keaschall grounded consecutive run-scoring singles with two outs in the sixth to give the Twins a 6-4 lead. Minnesota tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh.
Kyle Teel, Lenyn Sosa, Luis Robert Jr., Edgar Quero and Montgomery collected two hits apiece for the White Sox, who have lost three in a row and seven of eight. Sosa and Montgomery both had two RBIs.
Chicago capitalized on a pair of first-inning walks, as Sosa delivered an RBI single for a 1-0 lead. The hosts appeared primed for a bigger inning, but Teel was thrown out at home plate trying to score after a high throw on Robert’s infield single.
Free passes boosted the Twins’ fourth-inning response. Minnesota bookended two walks around a single to load the bases for Lewis, who belted a grand slam against Chicago’s Aaron Civale on a first-pitch cutter.
It was the sixth grand slam of Lewis’ career.
The White Sox crept closer on Quero’s RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. They tied the game on Montgomery’s two-run blast in the fifth, which found the bleachers in left-center despite Buxton’s leaping attempt.
Both starting pitchers took no-decisions. Minnesota right-hander Zebby Matthews permitted four runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Civale yielded four runs and five hits in five innings with four walks and five strikeouts. White Sox reliever Brandon Eisert (2-5) allowed two runs in the sixth.
Royce Lewis’ grand slam helps Twins outslug White Sox
