Twins Video
Box Score
Joe Ryan: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
Home Runs: Alex Kirilloff (8), Byron Buxton (16, 17), Ryan Jeffers (5)
Top 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (.209), Alex Kirilloff (.202), Edouard Julien (.045)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
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The first pitch couldn’t have gone any worse, as Andrew Benintendi blasted a fastball out to right field, making his second homer of the year a rare lead-off shot. Joe Ryan recovered, but the Twins would now need to respond in a timely manner.
They did. Carlos Correa didn’t join the fun—he simply lined out sharply to center field—but Edouard Julien did, crushing a line drive deep to left field. Benintendi played the ball well, collecting the bounce and unleashing a throw to second base that should have nailed a lethargic Julien. Elvis Andrus muffed it. Oh well, surely the base-runner wouldn’t matter soon.
Alex Kirilloff homered two pitches later. One of Lance Lynn’s cutters didn’t cut, and all Kirilloff had to do was lift the offering a little, earning his eighth homer of the season.
Byron Buxton homered eight pitches later. Max Kepler reached on an infield hit—perhaps botched a little again by Andrus—and Matt Wallner walked on five pitches. Despite being 0-July (not really, but emotionally, perhaps), Buxton lasered a first-pitch fastball at 114.3 MPH, giving the Twins a sudden 5-1 advantage.
The game calmed down, entering the usual see-saw to nowhere that many baseball games see for a few innings.
Until Buxton, again, somehow, hit his second homer of the night, breaking free from the arctic grasp the baseball gods had on him; this time with a bomb less prodigious, but still effective. Ryan Jeffers joined him quickly.
The runs were needed, because Ryan wasn’t as sharp as usual. The strikeouts were there—he whiffed 10 and elicited 17 swings and misses—but Chicago found a way to hit him hard; Yasmani Grandal’s two-run shot in the sixth inning was especially brutal. What should have felt like an untouchable lead was now well within reach.
Lynn was battered, ineffective, and tiring, but he remained in the game, tasked with keeping the lead at three. He should have, having earned a flyout from Correa that should have ended the frame, but right fielder Zach Remillard booted the ball, giving Minnesota extra life. Oh well, surely the base-runner wouldn’t matter soon.
Julien worked his second walk of the night before Kirilloff plastered Lynn’s final offering of the night: a fastball turned two-run double pelted off the right-center wall.
And that was it. Emilio Pagán shut down the White Sox in the seventh and Jovani Moran carried the pitching effort to the finish line, tossing a pair of scoreless innings to end the game 9-4 in favor of the Twins.
Notes:
Byron Buxton's multi-homer game was his first since June 22nd against the Red Sox.
Joe Ryan's 10 strikeouts tied a season-high; he's punched out 10 in a game five times in 2023.
Alex Kirilloff has four homers since the All-Star break ended; he had four homers before the break.
Edouard Julien extended his hit streak to nine games.
Post-Game Interviews:
What’s Next?
The Twins and White Sox will play the second game of their weekend series on Saturday, with first pitch at 6:15. All-Star Sonny Gray and somehow-not-an-All-Star-in-2022 Dylan Cease will face-off on the mound.
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
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