Last-place White Sox rally again to complete four-game sweep of Twins in near-empty Target Field

Fans who stuck around at Target Field through a 90-minute rain delay, then a game that lasted 3 hours, 26 minutes between the bottom two teams in the American League standings, saw a first in the Twins’ 64-year history in Minnesota on Thursday night.

The Twins were swept in a four-game home series by the White Sox for the first time in team history, after blowing a three-run lead in an 11-8 loss.

The Twins lost their final six games to AL-worst Chicago this season and dropped the season series (8-5) for only the second time in the past nine seasons.

Last season, the Twins went 12-1 against the White Sox.

“That’s a difficult one to take and to deal with,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after his team fell to 6-17 in its past 23 games. “Obviously, a challenging series.”

If it wasn’t enough that the Twins couldn’t win a game against one of the worst teams in baseball, they lost catcher Ryan Jeffers to a head contusion in the fourth inning. Jeffers will be evaluated again Friday, Baldelli said, but it was positive news that he may avoid the concussion injured list.

The Twins bullpen, which dealt away its five best relievers at the trade deadline, blew a three-run lead in the seventh inning. Rookie Travis Adams gave up two singles before White Sox catcher Kyle Teel crushed a tying three-run homer to right field.

In the four-game series, the Twins held a one-run lead after seven innings Monday, a two-run lead after eight innings Wednesday and a three-run lead after six innings Thursday. They were all losses for a Twins bullpen that holds a 5.24 ERA since the trade deadline.

“We just couldn’t stop them from scoring,” Baldelli said. “We gave up a lot of runs this series one way or the other. When we needed to put up some zeros or at least just limit, we weren’t able to do that.”

Twins reliever Noah Davis, who has an 18.00 ERA in nine appearances with two teams this year, gave up two more runs in the ninth inning. After an error from third baseman Royce Lewis, Davis served up a two-run homer to Colson Montgomery, a 454-foot moonshot that bounced off the empty seats — there was one fan sitting in the section — and it ricochet onto the field.

Montgomery hit five home runs in seven games against the Twins since Aug. 22.

The announced paid attendance at the last three games of the Twins-White Sox series amounted to 36,813 fans, which wouldn’t even constitute a sellout at Target Field.

Keaschall and Larnach, the top two hitters in the lineup, combined for seven hits. Austin Martin reached base four times. Matt Wallner hit a solo homer in the fifth inning and drew two walks. And it still wasn’t enough to keep up with the White Sox.

“I don’t care if we win high-scoring games, low-scoring games, one-run games, or win by 10,” Baldelli said. “None of that matters. You’ve got to find a way just to do enough to win. And it’s tough that we couldn’t.”

BOXSCORE: White Sox 11, Twins 8

MLB standings

Taj Bradley, facing the White Sox for the second time in two weeks, surrendered eight hits and four runs across five innings. He struck out seven, matching his second-highest total of the season, mostly with his curveball.