Sonny Gray and four relievers combined on a six-hitter Wednesday afternoon as the Twins edged the White Sox 3-1.
Twins beat White Sox 3-1. Kyle Farmer has surgery on jaw, Byron Buxton leaves game early
Sonny Gray threw five shutout innings but there were two scary moments for the Twins as Farmer was hit in the face with a pitch and BBuxton left the game as a precaution after an infield collision.
April 13, 2023 at 11:25AM
Ryan Jeffers tripled and singled and scored two runs for the Twins in front of 17,658 at Target Field on an 80-degree day.
There were some scary moments for the Twins.
Shortstop Kyle Farmer took a Lucas Giolito 91-mph fastball directly in his jaw in the fourth inning. He was down for a minute, attended to by trainers and helped from the field with what appeared to be a serious injury.
"He's going to have a procedure today to realign his teeth and fix a major laceration of the lower jaw," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It doesn't appear there's a fracture or fractures, which is some sort of miracle if that's the case. One of the more difficult days you are going to have at the ballpark."
The surgery was performed Wednesday night, according to Twins vice president Dustin Morse on Twitter:
Also, designated hitter Byron Buxton left the game as a precaution after flipping over Chicago second baseman Lenyn Sosa on an infield collision in the seventh as Sosa charged in for a grounder and Buxton was headed for second. Buxton walked easily off the field after remaining down for a brief time.
"By no means do I fault anybody," Buxton said. "It's baseball."
Said Baldelli: "We don't have any sort of diagnosis. He got whacked in about three different spots. We'll see how he feels when he wakes up tomorrow. … We'll see how he is in the next day or two."
The Twins open a four-game series against the Yankees in New York on Thursday.
They took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on Jeffers' triple and a groundout. Jeffers' drive to right was misplayed by Gavin Sheets, who fell as the liner went past him to the wall.
Jeffers singled in the eighth and scored on Willi Castro's double for a 2-0 lead. Castro, who entered the game to replace Farmer, scored on Michael A. Taylor's single.
Sosa homered with two outs in the ninth off Jhoan Duran for the only Chicago run.
Gray (2-0) started for the Twins and went five innings, throwing 78 pitches. He gave up three hits, struck out five, and walked two. Jorge Alcala, Jorge López and Griffin Jax each threw a scoreless inning before Duran got the save.
Giolito (0-1) took the loss. He pitched six innings, throwing 108 pitches. He gave up five hits and struck out seven.
Edouard Julien made his major league debut for the Twins, playing second base. He was 0-for-2 with a walk in becoming the 11th Canadian-born player in team history.
Robust competition is likely for righthander Roki Sasaki, whose agent suggests a “smaller, midmarket” team might be a good route to take, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are said to be the favorites to land him.
