Big day from Royce Lewis, six-run eighth power Twins past White Sox

Royce Lewis hit a two-run homer and a two-run double and the Twins plated six runs in the eighth inning to power their way to a 10-2 victory over the struggling Chicago White Sox Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 30,801 at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.

Lewis hit the two-run homer in the first inning for the first two runs of the day and put the Twins back in the lead with a two-run double in the third, going 2 for 4 overall with a walk and the four RBIs.

Lewis’ third-inning double gave the Twins a 4-2 lead that held until the eighth inning when Christian Vazquez hit a two-run double and Willi Castro hit a two-run homer the next at-bat. After Trevor Larnach was walked, Byron Buxton hit another two-run shot that gave the Twins a 10-2 advantage.

Twins starter Joe Ryan, meanwhile, did a nice job keeping the White Sox (27-85) relatively quiet through 6 1/3 innings. His lone blemish was surrendering a two-run homer to Miguel Vargas during the third inning, but he allowed just three hits and two runs overall while fanning seven.

The loss was the White Sox’s 18th straight.

Vargas’ third-inning homer knotted the game at 2-2 after Lewis put the Twins (60-48) ahead with his 409-foot, two-run blast right away in the first inning. But Lewis wasted no time putting the Twins back ahead, either, hitting the two-run double in the bottom of the third inning for a 4-2 Twins lead. 

White Sox starter Davis Martin, who recently returned from Tommy John surgery and slid into the rotation for the first time since Chicago traded starter Erick Fedde, allowed the four runs off five hits while fanning five across 3 2/3 innings of work. The White Sox bullpen held the Twins in check for the next 3 1/3 innings, but the Twins beat up on Steven Wilson and Prelander Berroa in the eighth.

Jorge Alcala relieved Ryan with one out and one on during the sixth inning and sent the next two batters down in order. Griffin Jax pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and recently-acquired reliever Trevor Richards sent the White Sox down in order in the ninth to close out a convincing victory.

The Twins and White Sox meet for the second of their three-game series at 6:10 p.m. Saturday.