MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jorge Polanco hit a three-run homer, one of three for the Minnesota Twins against Lance Lynn, in a five-run third inning and Minnesota held on for a 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.
First-time All-Star Luis Arraez led off the bottom of the first with a homer and Carlos Correa added a two-run shot in the third for the Twins, who had lost six of eight and saw their division lead slip to 2.5 games starting the day.
Minnesota maintained its edge over Cleveland in the American League Central and went four games ahead of Chicago.
“When you’re in first place and you’ve been playing great pretty much all year long and you go through a rough stretch, there’s not much to be said,” Correa said. “You know what it takes to get back to that.”
Dylan Bundy (6-4) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings for Minnesota. In three starts against the White Sox this season, Bundy is 2-0 with four runs allowed in 15 1/3 innings. Jhoan Duran pitched two scoreless innings for his sixth save.
“I think the just the culture we’ve established,” Bundy said of bouncing back from losses. “It started in spring and then carried up here to Minnesota, and the guys we have in that clubhouse. They don’t push the panic button. Losses are going to happen. Even the best team loses. It’s not something to worry about. You’ve just got to come ready to play the next day.”
Lynn (1-3) struggled again. He gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings. The former Twin has allowed 19 runs over his last three starts, which started with a five-inning, five-run performance against Minnesota in Chicago on July 6.
The right-hander has a 7.50 ERA in seven starts since he was activated off the injured list. He missed the start of the season after tearing a tendon in his right knee in spring training.
“There are some hits that are frustrating, infield hits or cap jobs or stuff like that and that’s part of the gig, especially when you’re going bad, seems like everything is a hit,” Lynn said. “And then I compounded that with the home run ball. That’s what you can’t do. You can’t worry about caps and jam shots and stuff like that. You have to keep pitching. I put us in a hole early and we weren’t able to come back.”
The White Sox had won four games in a row.
After the Twins built a 6-0 advantage against Lynn, Chicago got an RBI groundout from José Abreu in the fourth and Andrew Vaughn supplied a two-run single in the sixth.
“We’re playing it to the end; it’s clear we’re playing it to the end and we’ve got some results,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “The result tomorrow and getting a win tomorrow, winning a series there’s some tangible there. But we’ll go after it tomorrow.”
NOT TO BE WORN AGAIN
The Twins retired Jim Kaat’s No. 36 in a pregame ceremony. Kaat will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next weekend along with former teammate Tony Oliva, whose No. 6 was already retired by the team.
Kaat spent 15 of his 25 seasons with the franchise and had 189 of his 283 career wins with Minnesota. He’s the club’s all-time leader in wins and is second in career strikeouts (1,824). He’s the ninth person in team history to have his number retired along with Oliva, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, manager Tom Kelly and Joe Mauer.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: Luis Robert was out of the lineup after leaving Friday’s game with lightheadedness. La Russa didn’t have an update on Robert’s status before the game. … Eloy Jiménez missed his third straight game with right leg tightness but La Russa felt Jiménez could potentially pinch-hit in the game.
Twins: New scans on Ryan Jeffers’ right thumb showed a fracture and Jeffers will have surgery and miss six to eight weeks. Jeffers was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to Friday’s game after playing through the injury for multiple weeks.
UP NEXT
RHP Dylan Cease (8-4, 2.30 ERA) will start Sunday for Chicago in the last game before the All-Star Break. Cease has allowed just three earned runs over his last nine starts and leads all starters with 13.09 strikeouts per nine innings, but he hasn’t been named to the All-Star game. Minnesota is expected to activate and start RHP Chris Archer (2-3, 3.08). Archer has been out since July 2 left hip tightness.