CHICAGO – The Twins slugged 11 home runs over their three previous games. The White Sox entered having scored 66 runs over their previous nine.
So it would figure that these two surging teams full of mashers would lock up in a back-and-forth contest where pitchers worked out of every kind of jam until the White Sox broke a tie with two runs in the eighth inning off Taylor Rogers for a 3-1 victory.
The top two teams in the AL Central clashed. And it took a little deception to break the tie, as pinch hitter Adam Engel faked a bunt and slapped a single to center to put the White Sox ahead for good.
The White Sox took the first game of this intriguing four-game series, have won 21 of their past 26 games and now lead the Twins by two games in the AL Central. While there can be beauty in a 1-1 game, it was an agonizing night for Twins hitters as they went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position — 0-for-3 with the bases loaded. They got the leadoff runner on base in each of the first six innings, with that runner scoring just once.
Nelson Cruz, who has been a nightmare to White Sox manager Rick Renteria, struck out and grounded out with the bases loaded. He also hit into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners.
"Our at-bats were actually pretty good when we had the opportunities with the runners in scoring position," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said following a game that took 3 hours, 51 minutes to play. "They probably weren't as good. We just weren't able to get it done when there were guys out there waiting for a hit but that's going to happen."
And, just to pile on, the Twins walked 10 times Monday but scored just once. It the first time that happened to them since Sept. 2, 1998, during a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay in which the only run came on a bases-loaded walk to Otis Nixon.