White Sox sweep Twins; Yoan Moncada injures hand

Yoan Moncada

The White Sox this week began a stretch of games during which they will play the Minnesota Twins 10 times before the July 31 trading deadline.

The Twins came into town 11.5 games behind in the AL Central, so my thinking was, if the Sox could win five out of the 10, that would probably cause the Minnesota front office to throw in the towel and sell off parts at the deadline.

Well, the Sox have won the first three of those 10 games. They torched the Minnesota pitching staff for 28 runs in the series, capped off by an 8-5 victory Thursday. The Twins leave Chicago in fourth place, 14.5 games out of first.

The Sox, meanwhile, are back to a .600 winning percentage at 48-32. Their division lead has swelled to five games, because the Cleveland Indians have lost three games in a row.

The series featured the big league debut of Gavin Sheets, who played right field in all three games for the Sox. He went 5 for 11 with a home run and five RBIs.

It was also a big series for Andrew Vaughn, who went 6 for 9 with a home run and five RBIs.

Michael Kopech made his return for the disabled list and earned the win Thursday by pitching a scoreless sixth inning.

But, of course, all Sox good news must be balanced out by bad news. Third baseman Yoan Moncada went 2 for 2 with a run scored Thursday, but he exited the game in the third inning with a bruised hand. Moncada suffered the injury on an awkward slide into third base.

The team hopes he will only miss the weekend series in Detroit, and return Monday when the Sox rematch with the Twins in Minnesota.

Either way, third base prospect Jake Burger is not in the lineup at Triple-A Charlotte on Thursday evening. Expect him to be called up. It's just a matter of whether Moncada goes on the injured list, or whether one of the nine relievers on the Sox roster will be sent down to make room for another position player -- presumably Burger.