Minnesota Twins postgame report: Sano homers twice, but White Sox beat Twins

The Minnesota Twins came off an 18-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, which left them shorthanded in a Friday night defeat to the Chicago White Sox.

Just 24 hours ago, the Minnesota Twins endured their second marathon game in the past nine days as they fell to the Tampa Bay Rays in 18 innings. As the Twins hopped on a flight to begin a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox on Friday night, they found themselves shorthanded as Eddie Rosario joined a group of players on the injured list and left manager Rocco Baldelli to get creative with his lineup.

With a battered outfield and an exhausted bullpen, the Twins were going to have to play a perfect game to dispatch the White Sox in the opener, but a couple of rough innings led the Twins to a 6-4 defeat at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night.

Twin Takeaways – The Good

Tonight was the night that the blind squirrel finally found the acorn…and he did it twice! Miguel Sano came into this game with just three hits and 23 strikeouts in his last 39 at-bats, but that didn’t matter as he smacked a pair of bombs to help keep the Twins in the game. His two-run homer in the second inning tied the game up at two and Sano hit a two-run, garbage time home run in the top of the ninth to make things a little closer.

If we’re also searching for good things, we should mention LaMonte Wade Jr. making his major league debut. Wade was hit by a pitch from Ross Detwiler during his first MLB at-bat and was robbed of his first major league hit on a diving catch by Charlie Tilson in his second at-bat. Wade would go 0-for-1 and later be pinch hit for by Nelson Cruz late in the game.

Twin Takeaways – The Bad 

A lot of these things were to be expected after the Twins put in overtime on Thursday, but Jose Berrios had a tough start despite going eight inning on Friday night. He was a victim of an Ehire Adrianza error in the first inning, which came to score on a James McCann home run for two unearned runs.

After the White Sox struck for two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the death blow would come in the bottom of the eighth when Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run homer to put the Twins in a 6-2 hole.

At the plate, the Twins couldn’t get anything going outside of Sano’s big night even though they had a couple of big opportunities. After failing to get the big hit against the Rays the afternoon before, Jorge Polanco would hit into a bases loaded double play in the seventh inning and an eighth inning rally saw Jonathan Schoop fly out and Jason Castro strike out looking to put the Twins to bed.

Up Next

The Twins will try to rebound as they send Michael Pineda (4-4, 5.02 ERA) to the mound against Chicago’s Ivan Nova (3-6, 5.91 ERA). Pineda has been strong for the Twins recently despite allowing five runs in his last start against the Kansas City Royals on June 23. Meanwhile Nova is 0-3 with an 8.79 ERA in six starts at Guaranteed Rate Field this season.

First pitch for the second game of the series is scheduled for 3:12 p.m. CT.