The Sox arrived in Minnesota with a 2.5-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central Division, and a 6.5-game lead over the Twins.
They exit Minneapolis leading the Guardians by 3.5 games, and the Twins by 7.5 games. And, there are three more games off the schedule.
The Sox stand at 72-64 with 26 games remaining. Here's a look back at the weekend that was:
Friday, Aug. 28
White Sox 7, Twins 4: Minnesota starter Dean Kremer entered Friday's game with a 4-0 record and a 1.53 lifetime ERA in five starts against the Sox. In those games, he had allowed only five runs combined. But in this game, the Sox knocked him around for six runs in the first four innings.
Colson Montgomery's 3-run homer highlighted a four-run first inning, and Andrew Benintendi went 2 for 4 with an RBI single and an RBI double.
Sox starter Luis Castillo struggled once again, allowing four earned runs over four innings. The veteran right-hander has a lousy 6.45 ERA over his first five starts with the South Siders.
Fortunately for Castillo, the Sox bullpen fired five shutout innings. Grant Taylor (7-2) worked a career-high 2.2 innings with three strikeouts to get the win. Bryan Hudson pitched around two singles in the bottom of the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.
Saturday, Aug. 29
White Sox 3, Twins 2: Benintendi didn't win this game singlehandedly, but he provided all the offense the Sox would need. The South Siders totaled only three hits in this game, but Benintendi had all three of them.
In the first inning, he singled home Sam Antonacci, who led off the game with a walk. In the fourth inning, he doubled and later scored on an error by Minnesota shortstop Kaelen Culpepper. And with the score tied 2-2 in the sixth, Benintendi connected for his 14th homer of the season to provide the margin of victory.
That made a winner of Erick Fedde (7-8), who tossed five innings of two-run ball. He struck out four and walked two. The bullpen once again was strong, with Sean Ncwcomb tossing three scoreless innings, nursing that 3-2 lead from the sixth inning through the eighth. Hudson worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save of the season.
Sunday, Aug. 30
Twins 5, White Sox 1: Zebby Matthews (9-8) had perhaps the best start of his career for the Twins. He retired the first 17 batters he faced before Drew Romo broke up his perfect game with a two-out single in the top of the sixth.
Matthews went on to throw 8.1 innings, allowing only one run on five hits. He struck out five and walked nobody. This was pretty darn close to being a shutout. The Sox didn't score until there were two outs in the ninth, when Braden Montgomery singled off Twins reliever Jeff Hoffman to allow one of Matthews' inherited runners to score.
The Twins scored three runs in the first inning off the combination of opener Jordan Hicks (2-2) and Tyler Gilbert. Hicks was charged with all three runs on one hit, as he got himself in trouble with a pair of walks.
It's been an up-and-down season for Hicks, who was unscored upon in 15 straight outings from June 21 through Aug. 1. Alas, he's been touched up for nine runs in his past nine appearances, including six runs in his past two outings. It might be time to demote him back to low leverage until he regains command of the strike zone.
Jose Urquidy pitched well in the bulk role for the Sox, allowing one earned run on three hits over five innings of relief. That saves the bullpen for the next series.
Up next for the Sox: four games in Houston, starting Monday night against the Astros.
