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Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton power Twins win over White Sox

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on

Published in Baseball

MINNEAPOLIS — When Trevor Larnach lifted a go-ahead home run over the right field wall in the sixth inning Wednesday, it was fitting it came with no runners on base.

The Minneapolis Twins were busy on the basepaths totaling 12 hits, six walks and two hit batsmen against seven Chicago White Sox pitchers. They had at least two batters reach base in each of the first seven innings, one of their best offensive displays in a slumping season.

For all the baserunners the Twins accumulated, they still had trouble pushing them across the plate. In a 6-3 victory at Target Field, they left a season-high 13 runners on base in front of the announced crowd of 12,407.

Hey, baby steps for the offense.

Larnach’s third homer in the last five games put the Twins ahead after they coughed up a two-run lead, and Byron Buxton followed with a two-run, two-out homer in the seventh inning.

The Twins left a staggering eight men on base through the first three innings with only one run to show for it. In the first inning, they loaded the bases with one out after two hits and a catcher’s interference. Carlos Correa, attempting to break out of his slow start, rocketed a ball directly at White Sox second baseman Brooks Baldwin, and Luke Keaschall didn’t have time to move before he was doubled off second base for an inning-ending double play.

In the second inning, the bases were loaded with two outs following a hit, a hit batter and a walk. White Sox starter Bryse Wilson escaped again when he struck out Buxton on a called third strike, painting the outside corner of the plate with a sinker.

Wilson issued two walks to open the third inning before he induced a double play grounder against Correa. Two pitches later, Ty France finally delivered a hit with a runner in scoring position when he thumped an RBI single up the middle. Keaschall, the runner on third base, pumped his fist as he jogged to the plate.

Following France’s run-scoring hit, the Twins produced two more singles to load the bases before Harrison Bader flew out to center on a sliding catch from Luis Robert Jr.

Teams can survive for only so long before their inability to capitalize catches up to them. Edouard Julien hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning and scored on a two-out single from Trevor Larnach, but their two-run lead disappeared during an ugly fifth inning.

 

Twins starter David Festa opened the fifth inning with a five-pitch walk to Baldwin, the No. 8 batter in the Sox lineup, before giving up a single to pinch-hitter Bobby Dalbec in a 10-pitch at-bat.

With two runners on base and none out, Rocco Baldelli called for Cole Sands out of the bullpen. Sands walked his first batter on four pitches. After a run scored on a wild pitch, Andrew Benintendi dropped an RBI single in front of Buxton in center field.

Following an infield pop-up for the first out of the inning, Sands induced a ground ball to the right side of the infield. With an opportunity to start a potential inning-ending double play, Keaschall watched the ball roll underneath his glove, briefly dropping to a knee in frustration as it trickled into the outfield to allow the go-ahead run to score.

Festa lasted only four innings. He struck out five, but he permitted two runs on four hits and three walks.

The Twins responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning. The first three Twins batters reached base, which included an RBI single from Brooks Lee, but Sox reliever Steven Wilson briefly preserved the tie after he entered with two strikeouts and a flyout.

Larnach connected on a first-pitch fastball against Jordan Leasure with his sixth-inning homer, and Buxton launched a first-pitch cutter from Cam Booser with his blast to the bullpens in left-center field in the seventh inning.

The Twins, who have a 9-15 record, won four of their five games against the White Sox this year.

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©2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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