Rookie Eddie Julien hit a three-run homer, Jorge Polanco added a solo blast and the Twins took the series from the Chicago White Sox on Sunday and won nine of 13 contests versus the South Siders this season.
The four runs is all the Twins needed because three pitchers blanked the Pale Hose on six hits. The lion’s share of that effort went to Sonny Gray, who scattered five hits over seven innings with six strikeouts. He is now 8-7 with a 2.84 ERA.
The Twins now head to Cincinnati to play the Reds. Joe Ryan gets the ball Monday.
Extra innings …
-The Twins are 79-71 and still lead the Cleveland Guardians by seven games with 12 games left in the season. Their magic number is six.
-Looks like the Guardians want to play the role of spoiler. The Texas Rangers recently swept the Toronto Blue Jays, then they faced the Guards and were swept 12-3, 2-1 and 9-2. Go figure.
-The Twins end the season against the Reds, Angels, A’s and Rockies. Versus the AL Central, the Twins were 9-4 against the White Sox and Royals, 6-7 versus the Guards and a disappointing 5-8 against Motown.
-On Sept. 18, 1966, the Twins’ Bob Allison hit a 10th inning home run to beat the Yankees 5-3 and send the Bronx Bombers to the bottom of the AL standings.
The Minneapolis Tribune lede:
“Bob Allison’s 200th major league home run provided the Twins a 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees Sunday in 10 innings.”
The New York Daily News lede:
“The Yankees, seemingly using powder puffs as their regular attacking weapons, yesterday retreated one more step toward their worst season in 54 years. Minnesota completed its sweep of the three-game set at the stadium, winning in 10 innings, 5-3, on Bob Allison’s pinch hit homer.”
Advantage: Daily News, and it wasn’t close.
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com