MINNEAPOLIS — In front of a sellout crowd on Joe Mauer Hall of Fame Night at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins handed the Chicago White Sox their 19th straight loss with a 6-2 victory Saturday.
Max Kepler, who was out of the starting lineup for the second straight game after being struck on the helmet by a catcher’s throw Wednesday, returned to action off the bench by delivering a home run to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning. And then the Twins lineup broke the game open late, a frequent occurrence against the White Sox’s bullpen all season.
“I called him (Friday) night, pretty late,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You never know when you call these guys who’s going to pick up and who’s not. But he picked up. I talked to him about (Saturday’s) game. He said, ‘Even if I’m not starting, I really want to get in this game.’ Because he’s been off for a little bit. He got in and he made a big impact.”
It was Kepler’s first homer since June 18, a cold stretch in which he posted a punchless .652 OPS in 29 games.
Good to see you, Max! pic.twitter.com/raNqBYiuBU
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 4, 2024
Bailey Ober tossed seven innings of two-run ball for his eighth consecutive quality start, tied for the most by any Twins pitcher in the Target Field era (since 2010). Ober improved to 6-1 with a 1.95 ERA over his last eight starts, racking up a 63-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 55 1/3 innings.
Ober allowed a tying solo homer to rookie shortstop Brooks Baldwin in the sixth inning but responded by retiring the final six batters he faced, including three by strikeout.
What changed after the homer?
“Probably just a little pissed off, to be honest with you,” Ober said. “I just told myself to stop thinking and just go after guys. Forget about what just happened and execute. Try to get my best stuff out there. Challenge them and see who wins.”
Chicago’s last win came against Ober, way back on July 10. It was the White Sox’s only win in 12 tries versus the Twins this year, with their last matchup Sunday afternoon.
Chicago has dropped 19 games in a row, tied for MLB’s fifth-longest losing streak of the past 100 years and just four losses short of the modern MLB record of 23 straight losses by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies.
Carlos Correa talks injury, trade deadline
Before the trade deadline, Carlos Correa made no secret about his belief that the Twins’ priority should be acquiring pitching help, even going as far as recommending his preferred targets to president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and the front office.
“It has to be,” Correa said about a week before the July 30 deadline. “It has to be. Definitely. Everybody needs pitching.”
Instead, the trade deadline came and went without the front office heeding Correa’s advice. Sending marginal High-A infield prospect Jay Harry to the Toronto Blue Jays for journeyman middle reliever Trevor Richards was the Twins’ lone move at the deadline following a similarly uneventful offseason during which ownership slashed payroll by $30 million.
Saturday, after testing his injured heel with a pregame workout, Correa was asked for his reaction to the Twins’ deadline inactivity. Not surprisingly, the always savvy Correa gave a very measured response and avoided anything even resembling criticism of the front office.
“We’ve got to stop focusing on what the outside help might have looked like and just focus on what we have in-house,” Correa said. “You know, like I tell the players, there’s no better trade deadline addition than taking our game to a different level. There’s so much potential on this team, and I don’t think we’ve fully reached it yet.”
Correa, who admitted Saturday that his return from plantar fasciitis in his right foot has taken longer than he expected, or at least hoped, emphasized that he believes the Twins have a roster capable of reaching the postseason and making a playoff run for the second straight season.
“I think we have the talent to win it all,” Correa said. “If everybody focuses on getting better every single day, on trying to take that leap and take that next step in their game, I think we’re going to be in a great position. I think we have a great team and everybody knows it. If we stay healthy and stay on the field, and keep improving, I think we’re going to be in a great spot.”
Carlos Correa, stat-head, part infinity:
Asked randomly about Carlos Santana’s fielding, Correa said he would be a deserving Gold Glove winner and specifically cited his 11 Outs Above Average as leading American League first basemen.
Sure enough … https://t.co/b0NeT7FcpB pic.twitter.com/65Ee1fxzD4
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 3, 2024
As for Correa’s recovery, two weeks after going on the injured list he’s progressed to hitting, doing infield drills and jogging. His next step will need to be sprinting without pain, at which point he could be cleared to begin what would likely be a brief minor-league rehab assignment.
Neither the Twins nor Correa has stated an official timeline for his return from the IL, but the All-Star shortstop noted he’s recently felt considerable improvement after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection and is willing to take a cautious approach if it leads to a healthy, productive stretch run.
“The goal is when I come back, I don’t have to go back on the IL and I don’t have to take days off because the pain is lingering and I’m not fully healed,” Correa said. “I don’t expect it to be fully fully healed to the point I won’t feel it again. But to be able to go out there and feel good enough to perform and not have the same thing happen as last year, where I was playing the whole year through a lot of pain and the performance completely dipped.”
(Photo of Max Kepler: Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
