The White Sox got on the board first in this game, with assistance from the Twins catcher. In the 3rd inning, Connor Prielipp walked Luisangel Acuna, who proceeded to steal 2nd, then 3rd, and come home on an errant throw from Alex Jackson, scoring the first run of the contest. Chase Meidroth hit an infield single, then, after Randal Grichuk doubled, Miguel Vargas hit a 2-run single to push their lead to 3-0. Prielipp was able to limit the damage to that, getting a fly-out and ground out to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the 3rd, Tristan Gray singled and then was balked to 2nd. Jackson tried a sacrifice bunt but got a hit instead, advancing Gray to 3rd. Brooks Lee would later get the Twins on the board with a sac-fly RBI, with Kody Clemens lining out to end the inning.
In the 4th, Prielipp settled down and tossed a clean inning, then the Twins bats went to work against Davis Martin. Trevor Larnach hit a 1-out double, then Austin Martin walked. Luke Keaschall hit an RBI single to left, advancing to 2nd base on the throw. Now with 2 runners in scoring position, Tristan Gray would bring them both home with a single. Then Jackson would make up for his error earlier tonight with an RBI single, giving the Twins a 5-3 lead.
In the 5th, Keaschall came up with a 2-out RBI single to make it a 6-3 game, and everything was looking great for the home team. It looked even better after a perfect 6th inning from Connor Prielipp, who earlier looked destined for a short start but was now poised to pitch into the 7th inning for the first time in his career.
However, just as in the 3rd, Acuna got on base to lead off the 7th, and chaos ensued. Jacob Gonzalez singled to right, with Acuna going to 3rd, ending Prielipp’s night. Andrew Morris came in and threw a wild pitch, giving us runners at 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs. Meidroth dribbled a ball down the 3rd base line to Brooks Lee, who threw to 1st but Clemens couldn’t pick it, and a run scored.
Morris’ wild tendencies continued, as after Grichuk struck out looking, another wild pitch moved the tying run, Meidroth to 2nd. A 9 pitch battle with Miguel Vargas ended with a 100mph fastball that Vargas couldn’t catch up to for the 2nd out. The White Sox pinch-hit Colson Montgomery for Edgar Quero, and the wild Morris hit him on the knee with a slider, loading the bases. Anthony Banda came in to face lefty Sam Antonacci, and struck him out with a slider to end the threat. Despite 3 singles, a hit batter, and 2 wild pitches, the Twins escaped the 7th with a 6-4 lead.
In the top of the 8th, Acuna would get on base yet again and steal his 3rd bag of the game, but Yoendrys Gomez came in and got Meidroth to strike out to end the threat. He stayed in for the 9th inning, tossing a 1-2-3 inning to get the save as the Twins secured a series win.
Studs:
Connor Prielipp (W, 2-3): 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Maybe should have been taken out after 6 though.
Anthony Banda: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 3 K
Yoendrys Gomez (S): 1.1 IP, 2 K
Tristan Gray: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, SB
Luke Keaschall: 2-4, 2 RBI
Brooks Lee: 1-3, RBI
Duds:
NO DUDS TWINS WIN!
