Well, the season count is now White Sox 15, Twins 13, as the South Siders returned serve and hit 10 points in the Minnesota bullpen on Saturday. The game started quickly, with Chicago a simple 1-0 lead halfway home, but then thunder fell. Leury García, Edwin Encarnación and Eloy Jiménez homered to blow the doors open and extend the lead to 5-0. Better yet, when Nelson Cruz yelled to reduce the lead to 5-3, the White Sox immediately countered, Garcia and McCann’s home runs extended the lead to 10-3.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20531670/Screen_Shot_2020_07_25_at_7.20.52_PM.png)
FanGraphs
The beginning
It was a much better day for the White Sox starter, with Dallas Keuchel as if he could have passed seven with ease. With a score of 57 games, Kid Keuchy made the best start of all in the series thus far, awarding just three hits and two runs in 5 ⅓ innings. Spot starter Randy Dobnak was also very good, albeit inefficient, for the Twins with a 56 GS after dispersing three hits and a streak of more than four.
Pressure play
In the top of the fourth, Keuchel made a double play 5-4-3 from Josh Donaldson, turning a mini rally (runner first, none out) into a base cleanup situation. The 1.85 LI represented the most intense game in the game.
Pressure cooker
As may be the case in a contest that ends in a bang, there was no massive influence on the game. But Drobnak’s 1.04 pLI takes the honors in this game.
Top Play
What fun was this. Edwin Encarnacion simply UNLEASHED on a Zack Littell pitch with two outs. And that lunar shot to left field extended the lead to 4-0 and came with a .127 WPA game average. Additional points could have been awarded for the bat drop.
Game MVP
Keuchel takes today’s honors with a .262 WPA for the game. While Garcia made all the noise, with home runs on both sides of the plate and four RBIs, it was yesterday’s MVP Yoan Moncada who came in second with .124.
Magic Number: 8
With his pair of home runs on both sides of the plate, Garcia became the eighth player in White Sox history to accomplish the feat. Yoán Moncada did it for the last time, just over a year ago, on July 4.
