Minnesota Twins defeat Chicago White Sox 8-5 – MLB Update
The Minnesota Twins’ offence put in a tremendous effort to beat the Chicago White Sox 8-5 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on Friday, July 8.
The White Sox, which virtually dominated the strong defence erected by the Twins, went for six hits five-runs first inning that was no less than a shocker for the starter Nick Blackburn and his team.
However, the Twins characteristically rallied from behind and transformed the complete outlook of the game with their six-run fourth inning, triggering intense interest in the game for the large crowd in attendance.
The Twins’ Michael Cuddyer was the first to open the account of runs when Gavin Floyd came for pitching. Cuddyer barely allowed the starter to settle as he singled to centre, enabling Joe Mauer to score.
However, the White Sox offence responded, as Paul Konerko hit to deep right-centre to equal the score only to be followed by a two-run homer by Adam Dunn that took the score to 3-1.
Before Blackburn could recover from the sudden shock of big hits, Alex Rios doubled to left and Gordon Beckham singled to centre to collectively take the score to 5-1, creating some confusion in the Minnesota camp.
Floyd then pitched well, coming up with a scoreless inning. Blackburn was not replaced either by the team. However, Danny Valencia got on Floyd in the third inning to bring the lead down to 5-2.
The fourth inning turned out to be a match-turner whereby the Minnesota offence performed extraordinarily to reverse the gain the Twins had made. Cuddyer drove the second run of his game and the team’s third to bring down the lead to 5-3.
Rene Tosoni hit a two-run RBI to level the score, effectively bringing the team back in the game followed by a huge hit of Luke Hughes who punished the seemingly slow-paced Floyd pitch that rewarded him a three-run homer. This established the Twins’ dominance
on the game with a 8-5 lead.
After the Twins’ starter had given up five runs in the first inning, Blackburn pitched four scoreless innings to save the lead. The relievers were not disappointing either who remained strong in the later innings.
Phil Dumatrait pitched a scoreless sixth, Alex Burnett the seventh, Joe Nathan went for a hitless eighth and Matt Capps unleashed another excellence personified inning of unplayable fastballs to turn the 8-5 lead into an absolute victory for the Minnesota
Twins, giving them a 2-0 lead in the four-game series.
The Twins put in a brilliant performance as they managed to restrict the White Sox offence from going after their pitching line-up. Chicago will be disappointed as they were unable to carry their confidence into the later innings of the game.
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