The streaking Minnesota Twins were beginning to find their stride before recalling veteran second baseman Orlando Arcia from the minor leagues.
Now Arcia is contributing to a group that has won four straight and 10 of 14 entering Monday’s opener of a four-game set at the Chicago White Sox.
Arcia likes what he sees.
“Good chemistry. Everyone on the same page. Everyone unified,” he said through translator and teammate Pablo Lopez. “And I think that’s been a huge factor on how we’re playing our game. Just playing for one another and leaving everything on the field.”
Arcia is hitting .545 (6-for-11) in three games with Minnesota. That includes multi-hit efforts on Saturday and Sunday that helped the Twins earn a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox to begin a 10-game road trip.
Brooks Lee punctuated a three-run sixth inning with a tiebreaking two-run single to key Sunday’s 6-5 victory.
Playing through a steady rain for much of the afternoon, Minnesota turned a double play and also had a critical relay to cut down the potential tying run at home for the second out of the ninth inning. Left fielder Trevor Larnach got the ball to shortstop Ryan Kreidler, who erased pinch runner Connor Wong at the plate.
“Defense wins a lot of games, so as soon as we’re focused when we’re on defense and doing the little things, we’re going to string a lot of wins when it matters,” Arcia said.
Chicago had won five of its past six series before encountering a roadblock on a six-game trip to Seattle and San Francisco.
The White Sox lost four of six and were outscored 18-8 by the Giants in the last two games of the trip. Chase Meidroth hit a first-inning home run to stake Chicago to an early lead Sunday. Despite a later home run from Miguel Vargas, his 12th, the White Sox were unable to overcome the Giants’ second grand slam in as many days.
Veteran left-hander Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.27 ERA) will get the call for the White Sox as he aims to continue a sterling May. Kay is 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA in four starts covering 21 1/3 innings this month.
He took a no-decision in Seattle on Tuesday in a game the White Sox won 2-1. Kay yielded a first-inning run but none thereafter in his 5 1/3 innings.
“I just wasn’t able to get into a groove early and kind of settled in after that,” he said. “You’ve just got to turn the page. It’s done with, over with, you can’t really do anything about it now, and you’ve just got to go after the next guy and kind of just hit a full reset and then just keep trying to do your job.”
Minnesota will turn to righty Zebby Matthews (1-1, 1.38), who has shined since the Twins recalled him from Triple-A St. Paul on May 14. Matthews delivered seven scoreless innings to defeat the Miami Marlins in his season debut and is coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Houston, when he spaced two runs and five hits in six innings. He had six strikeouts against zero walks.
Matthews is 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA in three career starts against the White Sox. He has walked two and struck out 16 over 16 2/3 innings.
Monday marks Kay’s first appearance against Minnesota.
–Field Level Media
