*Photo from NBC Sports*
Needing wins by any means necessary, one guy stepped up. Eloy Jimenez homered, Andrew Benintendi won the game, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-2 in 10 innings on Tuesday in Chicago.
The White Sox have stumbled hard, with just two wins in their last 10 games. The good news is those two wins have come back to back, with the White Sox now one win away from 10 on the season. Jimenez and Benintendi led the way on the offensive side.
White Sox starter Michael Kopech said that "What we did in the ninth against the Rays the other day was a huge momentum change for us and everyone knows we needed it. We kind of carried that into today and carrying that same momentum and same confidence makes all the difference for us moving forward. If we can continue to do that, we’re going to be the team that people expected us to be."
The scoring in this game didn't start until the 6th inning. It was the Twins who got it started, with Trevor Larnach giving them a 1-0 lead on a sac fly that scored Byron Buxton. One inning later, in the 7th, Jimenez put the White Sox ahead 2-1 with a two run home run to left field, his 3rd home run of the season.
One inning after Jimenez's homer, Nick Gordon responded for the Twins. In the 8th inning, he hit a solo home run to center field, tying the score at 2-2, which forced extra innings. With Hanser Alberto on base in the 10th inning, Benintendi singled, which brought in Alberto and gave the White Sox the walk off win.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said that it was a "Great ball game. Anytime you have a chance to win a couple in a row, you start building a little momentum, but I'm not getting too far ahead. I'm going to stay on tomorrow's game and get ready for tomorrow. We dug ourselves a hole, and now we probably are going to have to take our time to get back to where we want to be. I'm not going to let anyone get too far ahead. We've got to be ready to play tomorrow."
It was Kopech who got the start for the White Sox, allowing one run on one hit in 6 innings, striking out 7 hitters. Gregory Santos pitched a scoreless 7th inning before Alex Colome and Keynan Middleton handled the next two innings. Jimmy Lambert got the win with a scoreless 10th inning.
Starting for the Twins was Joe Ryan, who threw 6 shutout innings while striking out 7 hitters and allowing one hit. Jorge Lopez pitched one inning and allowed two runs before Griffin Jax and Brock Stewart had scoreless inning. Caleb Thielbar got the loss by pitching the 10th inning.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Ryan's start that "He’s been on point every time he’s taken the ball. There’s nothing more a starting pitcher can do than what Joe has. He’s been great. He threw the ball today, basically, all of his outings have looked exactly like this. He’s been just rock solid."
Up next, the series between the teams continues on Wednesday night. Dylan Cease will get the start for the White Sox, opposed by Louie Varland of the Twins.
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