23 July 2023
Willi Castro, diagnosed with pink eye on Friday, could see well enough to deliver a clutch pinch-hit double in the ninth inning. Joey Gallo, also dealing with pink eye, was well enough to run — and to make a judgment call on a shallow sacrifice fly to score the game-tying run in the 10th inning.
And Ryan Jeffers?
Well, the catcher took a ball to the face in the 11th inning, causing him to bite down on his tongue and draw a good amount of blood, but he said he wasn’t close to exiting the game because of it.
And it’s a good thing for the Twins because an inning later, Jeffers delivered a walk-off single to boost them to a 5-4 12-ininng win over the White Sox, one which required them to empty out their whole bench and battle back from deficits twice before emerging victorious.
“A win like that is just always such a good boost,” Jeffers said. “We’re 8-2 coming off the All-Star break. We’re playing really good baseball. When we’re not getting the runs, we’re kind of starting to believe in ourselves that we can come back and we can get hits on whoever’s out there.”
The game, for the first eight innings, appeared much like so many in the first half where the Twins (53-48) got a quality start from their pitcher — in this case Bailey Ober, who gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings pitched — but the offense wasn’t able to capitalize on opportunities against White Sox (41-60) starter Lucas Giolito and the bullpen.
But these are the second-half Twins, not the first half-Twins. And these second-half Twins have shown some more punch lately.
Trailing by three to begin the ninth, rookie Matt Wallner drew a six-pitch walk from Kendall Graveman. Jeffers followed with a single, bringing the tying run to the plate. That was Castro, who, in his first at-bat of the weekend, delivered a pinch-hit double, bringing home the Twins’ first run of the game.
“I was not trying to do too much,” Castro said. “There were two men on base. I just wanted to get one in. I just think when you’re patient and you just go out there and just get the pitch that you want to hit, that’s the result.”
Carlos Correa drove in the team’s second run of the game, sending a sacrifice fly out to left. And with two outs, first baseman Alex Kirilloff, who has played a big role in the Twins’ second-half success to date, delivered a game-tying double.
The Twins had to fight back again in the 10th inning after the White Sox scored their auto runner and this time, it was Gallo coming through, making a good read on Kyle Farmer’s sacrifice fly to Oscar Colás in right.
“I saw him awkwardly catch it, go to the ground and my instincts took over,” Gallo said. “I put my head down and ran. I was going home and I was like, ‘Well hopefully this pays off because if this doesn’t, I’m going to look like an idiot.”
Scoreless efforts from Griffin Jax in the top of the 11th and Emilio Pagán in the 12th helped keep the Twins in it, long enough for Jeffers to play hero with his third hit of the game.
“Getting the performances from your bullpen that we got in those late innings gives your offense a boost,” Jeffers said. “ … It’s a huge bonus just because you get that runner on second base and it feels like it’s easy to get him in from there.”
Well, maybe not easy.
Sunday’s win was anything but easy for the Twins. But after a game that looked like so many before this season, this time the Twins were finally able to secure the outcome they were looking for.
“We get there late and we put the at-bats together,” Baldelli said. “You always want that. You want that every time you get people on base. You want to come through. But we kept giving ourselves those opportunities and it was tough but we got what we wanted.”
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