CHICAGO — Oh, guaranteed rate field, you’re a guaranteed run treat. How you missed the twins.
Nowhere do Twins’ flying balls sail farther and more frequently than this south side launch pad. Alex Kirilloff homered twice on Tuesday, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Jose Miranda once each, and the Twins’ midgame batting practice produced their fourth victory in the last five games, 8-2 over the Whites. Sox.
The win, in a rain-stopped game for 35 minutes in the eighth inning, extended Minnesota’s lead in the AL Central to 4½ games over Cleveland, its biggest lead since June 5, exactly a month earlier.
Tuesday’s five homers, plus Byron Buxton’s smash a day earlier, means the Twins have hit 308 homers at Guaranteed Rate Field (or its former name, US Cellular Park), more than the franchise has ever hit. anywhere else outside the state of Minnesota. . Technically, it’s tied with Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City at 308 home runs to each park, but it’s worth noting that the Royals’ stadium opened in 1973, 28 seasons before the modern home of the White Sox.
The Twins’ last conquest of Chicago’s home park was mostly from youngsters who weren’t born when the place opened in 1991.
Josh Winder, activated late in the afternoon to replace injured starter Chris Archer, pitched five innings and notably did not allow a home run. The rookie right-hander allowed seven hits in five innings and blocked runners in running position in three of them.
White Sox starter Michael Kopech fared much worse. The right-hander, who hadn’t allowed a run in two previous starts against the Twins, went full base in the first inning but retired Kirilloff to escape the threat. This would be the last time Kirilloff did not reach base or score a run.
Max Kepler smashed an overhanging curveball to right field in the third inning to give the Twins an early lead. Kirilloff, now batting .307 with a .548 slugging percentage since being recalled from St. Paul nearly three weeks ago, opened the fourth inning with a single. He scored past Miranda when the rookie hit a mid-plate slider about halfway up the bleachers at center left, a 411-foot smash.
And after Polanco participated by firing a first-pitch fastball over the Twins’ bullpen in left field, Kirilloff landed back-to-back hits against Kopech. He went the opposite way, however, dropping a slider in the seats near Miranda, a 417-foot circuit. Two innings later against reliever Vince Velasquez, he returned to left-center, playing a 3-1 front-row slider.
It was the second two-homer game of Kirilloff’s career, but by and large only the first two homers he hit in Chicago.
“He’s not an entirely predictable hitter, and that benefits him. Getting hits and spreading the ball downfield are real things,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of the outfielder. second year. “He’s a guy who can hit a pitch in an unusual area. We’ve seen him shoot balls down the left field line. We’ve seen him come on a pitch [Monday] and just hit a ground ball through the left side. He finds the outfield grass. It leads to victories.”
And sometimes he also finds the bleachers beyond the outfield grass.
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