Fresh off first win, Twins vie for series victory vs. White Sox

Armed with renewed confidence after their first victory of the season, the Minnesota Twins will aim for a series win against the host Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon.

After absorbing a 9-0 shutout in Monday’s series opener, Minnesota used a 10-hit attack Tuesday to stop a four-game losing streak in which the club had been outscored 28-6.

A five-run sixth inning snapped a 19-inning scoreless streak to key the Twins to an 8-3 victory Tuesday. Harrison Bader capped the offensive outburst with a three-run homer in the ninth.

“You’ve got to force the issue sometimes,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You can’t just keep saying, ‘We’re having pretty good at-bats.’ You’ve got to just take a game over at some point, just get a bunch of baserunners and bring them around.”

Ryan Jeffers and Ty France both recorded multi-hit games. Carlos Correa still is searching for his first hit of the season as he tries to stop a 0-for-17 funk.

Chicago can earn its first series win with a victory on Wednesday. And improving the club’s clutch hitting would go a long way to that end.

While Lenyn Sosa and Andrew Benintendi both went 3-for-4 on Tuesday to key a nine-hit effort, the White Sox struck out 13 times while going 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Starting pitching remains a strong suit for the White Sox.

Rookie Shane Smith completed the first turn through the rotation on Tuesday, spacing two runs and two hits in 5 2/3 innings. That ended a stretch of 28 consecutive scoreless innings from White Sox starters to begin the season, the fourth longest streak since 1961, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Fellow rookie Sean Burke (1-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the call Wednesday. The right-hander started the rotation’s early tear with six innings of three-hit, three-strikeout ball against the Los Angeles Angels last Thursday.

“Just making quality pitches in the zone, getting ahead of guys,” Burke said. “We had a good game plan going in against the lineup as a whole, and I did a pretty good job executing.”

First-year manager Will Venable agreed.

“A lot of poise,” Venable said. “He’s under control at all times.”

Veteran right-hander Pablo Lopez (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will start for the Twins on Wednesday. He’ll try to avoid the kind of rough start that sullied his start last Thursday in St. Louis.

Eight of the first 15 Cardinals Lopez faced registered hits. He also committed a balk and sailed a ball into center field for a throwing error.

Lopez typically excels behind his changeup, a pitch he felt he did not totally command.

“It’s one of my best pitches, especially to lefties,” he said. “They say big leaguers make adjustments pitch-to-pitch instead of at-bat to at-bat.”

Lopez is 0-1 with a 4.40 ERA in five career starts against the White Sox covering 28 2/3 innings.

Burke, 25, has not faced the Twins in his young career.

–Field Level Media