Make It Official! Twins 8, White Sox 6: Bats Back Sheriff in Return to Rotation

Box Score
SP: Chris Paddack: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (78 pitches, 54 strikes (69.2%)
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (9), Matt Wallner (2), Carlos Correa (12)
Top 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (0.313), Byron Buxton (0.297), Kody Funderburk (0.203)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

After taking a series from the Houston Astros over the weekend, the Minnesota Twins welcomed Chris Paddack back to the mound; Sean Aronson to the radio booth; and Marney Gellner on the television side, all in grand fashion.

Larnach Makes It 26 Straight
It didn’t take long for the Twins to put themselves in the run column. Squaring up a Chris Flexen curveball Trevor Larnach hit his ninth home run of the season. That solo shot into the bullpen also extends the Twins game with a home run streak to 26 games. 

Max Kepler and Byron Buxton kept the scoring going in the fourth inning. After Kepler hit his 16th double on the season with two outs in the inning, Buxton came in right behind him, replacing Kepler at second base with his 17th double and putting the Twins up 2-1. 

Kepler’s double had career significance as it was the 200th double of his career. Brooks Lee was looking to keep his career headed in a great start and nearly continued the scoring for the Twins. Lee hit his own line drive but was robbed by White Sox second baseman Nicky Lopez. 

Rest Seemed to do Paddack Good
Chris Paddack returned to the team after some time on the IL to deal with his arm as he continues through his first full season since Tommy John surgery. For most of the game, Paddack was doing well. His velocity was back where it had been, and he worked through the White Sox lineup out side of two instances. 

In both instances, Paddack had the batter at a 0-2 count with two outs in the inning. Martin Maldanado hit a home run to put the White Sox on the board in the third inning. Then, in the fifth, Corey Julks doubled to score Lopez from first base. Paddak’s performance took him five complete innings before he handed the ball off to the bullpen. 

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Okert Struggles in 6th
Steven Okert was the first man up out of the bullpen, and it simply did not go well. He hit his first batter faced in Andrew Benintendi. That followed up with an Andrew Vaughn double to put runners on second and third. Okert got Luis Robert Jr. to strike out, ending the left-hander's evening. 

The Twins turned to Josh Staumont, who has pitched well in low-leverage spots and now would get the chance to get the Twins out of a jam. That isn’t quite what would happen. An Eloy Jimenez single, Lopez single, and a Ryan Jeffers throwing error brought the White Sox quickly ahead of the Twins 5-2. 

Twins Fight Back
The Twins offense wouldn’t let things end there. Buxton hit his second double on the night. Lee followed up with a single after getting robbed earlier in the game to score Buxton. Lee now has a hit in each of his six games played. Wallner, as part of his welcome back to the big leagues, hit a home run to score Lee. Just like that, the game was tied again, 5-5. 

The offense was not ready to settle for a tie. Carlos Correa came up to bat and took White Sox reliever Jordan Leasure deep for his 12th home run. Leasure did his part in the seventh to help the Twins forget about the Okert, who showed up in the sixth. 

White Sox Wouldn’t Go Away
Unfortunately, the White Sox just wouldn’t go away. With Griffin Jax on the mound, Robert Jr. would walk, steal second, and reach third on a wild pitch. Led the way for Lopez to show up again and hit a double to score Robert Jr. and tie the game up again at 6-6. 

That took the game into extra innings. The Twins could not do anything in the tenth and sent Jhoan Duran to the mound to keep the game alive. After intentionally walking Eloy Jimenez, it got a little scary for a moment, with runners at first and second, but Duran was able to extend the game to the eleventh inning. 

In the eleventh, the Twins bats were ready to go as left-handed reliever Jared Shuster took the mound. Buxton singled, then so did Lee to score Kepler and put the Twins ahead 7-6. The single not only scored Kepler but also allowed Buxton to move to third. This development proved critical, as Manuel Margot was able to ground out, but it was still enough to get Buxton home and pad the Twins' lead 8-6. 

Just as it was drawn up, Kody Funderburk would be called upon to get the Twins the win and collect his own save. Facing the 7-8-9 spots in the lineup, that is exactly what would happen. The Twins would hope not to have to get those kind of wins against a club like the White Sox, but it is certainly better than those sort of losses. 

What’s Next?
Bailey Ober will take the mound for the Twins and look to continue his stretch of good pitching into the All-Star Break. The White Sox will send likely trade deadline target, Erick Fedde to the mound. Fedde seems to have bad games when he pitches against good lineups, but last time facing the Twins on April 23rd he held the Twins to one run. 

Postgame Interviews

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