Rookie Shane Smith got his first career win and Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas homered as the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 3-0 in a seven-inning weather-shortened game on Thursday in Minneapolis.
The White Sox had lost three in a row and nine of their previous 10. They salvaged the final contest of the three-game series and snapped a 14-game losing streak at Target Field — the franchise’s longest at any other team’s venue.
Smith (1-1) allowed four hits over five shutout innings, walking one and striking out a career-high seven. He threw 82 pitches, 50 for strikes. Brandon Eisert pitched the seventh for his first career save.
Twins starter Chris Paddack (0-3) allowed two runs on five hits, walking four and striking out five in five innings.
Smith’s only 1-2-3 inning was the fourth, when he struck out Trevor Larnach swinging, got Carlos Correa on a groundout and wiped out Ty France swinging.
The Twins could not capitalize on Christian Vazquez’s leadoff double in the third. Smith retired the next three batters.
Sosa led off the top of the second with a solo home run to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. He drove Paddack’s slider over the left-field fence for his second homer of the season.
Joshua Palacios drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0. The White Sox loaded the bases with two outs on two walks and an infield single.
Vargas greeted reliever Jorge Alcala with a 422-foot blast into the second deck in left leading off the sixth to stretch the lead to 3-0. It was Vargas’ first home run since being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the White Sox on July 29.
The Twins threatened in the bottom of the sixth when a walk and a single put runners on first and second against reliever Jordan Leasure. But Leasure struck out Larnach swinging on a 3-2 pitch, got Correa looking on a 3-2 offering and took care of France on a soft lineout to second.
Minnesota placed utility man Willi Castro on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique, recalled infield/catcher Mickey Gasper from Triple-A St. Paul and optioned right-handed pitcher David Festa to St. Paul.
–Field Level Media
