Twins blank White Sox, win sixth straight
Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario each hit three-run home runs and Jake Odorizzi allowed one hit over 5 1/3 innings to lead the Minnesota Twins to their sixth straight victory, a 7-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Odorizzi (7-2) walked one and struck out nine, including the last four batters he faced, to pick up his seventh win in his past eight starts. It also marked the fifth time in his past six starts that he didn't allow a run. Matt Magill, Trevor May, Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey combined to blank the White Sox on four hits over the final 3 2/3 innings with Duffey striking out the side in both the eighth and ninth.
Kepler finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Minnesota, which won its seventh series of the season while improving to 19-6 in the month of May. The six-game winning streak is the longest of the season for the Twins, who have won 11 of their past 12 games while also increasing their AL Central lead to 10 games over the Cleveland Indians.
Dylan Covey (0-4) suffered the loss for the White Sox, who have lost their past seven games against the Twins and 14 of the past 20. Covey allowed four runs on just three hits and two walks over six innings while striking out six. Charlie Tilson had two of Chicago's five hits.
The Twins, who managed just a Marwin Gonzalez walk in the first two innings, took a 4-0 in the third. Byron Buxton singled with one out, stole second and then took third on a throwing error by catcher Seby Zavala, who was making his first major league start. Kepler then drove in Buxton with a line drive double over the head of Tilson in center.
After Jorge Polanco walked and Gonzalez struck out, Rosario lined his team-leading 16th homer of the year into the bleachers in right.
The Twins extended their lead to 7-0 in the seventh on Kepler's 12th home run of the season, a 429-foot line drive over the center field fence. It was the 54th home run hit by Minnesota in the month of May, one off the team record set in 1964, and also their major league leading 104th of the season.
--Field Level Media
