Brooks Lee delivered a go-ahead, bases-clearing double in the 11th inning among his two hits, boosting the visiting Minnesota Twins to a 5-3 victory against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Kody Clemens and Austin Martin also drove in runs for Minnesota, which won for the fifth time in six games while stopping a seven-game losing streak to Chicago dating to last season.
Four Minnesota relievers combined on 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball after starter Joe Ryan worked 7 2/3 sharp innings. Yoendrys Gomez notched his third save despite permitting Chase Meidroth’s RBI single in the bottom of the 11th.
Minnesota looked poised to take the lead against Taylor Rogers (1-1) in the top of the 10th when Orlando Arcia singled to right with two outs, but Rikuu Nishida erased Clemens at the plate with a strong throw. Nishida has thrown a runner out at home in each of his first two major league games.
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami batted with runners at the corners and one out in the bottom of the 10th but hit into a double play.
Ryan held a 2-0 lead with one out in the eighth before Murakami smacked a game-tying two-run blast, his American League-leading 19th home run of the season. Ryan retired the next batter before exiting. He yielded two runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings with no walks and a season-high-tying nine strikeouts.
White Sox counterpart Sean Burke retired the side in order in two of the first three innings before getting in trouble in the fourth. The right-hander surrendered the only three hits he allowed all night to open the inning. Trevor Larnach led off with a double and scored on Clemens’ triple. Martin’s base hit knocked in Clemens.
Burke then regrouped. After Drew Romo erased Martin on an attempted steal, Burke notched consecutive strikeouts on the way to setting down the last 11 Twins he faced. He gave up two runs in seven innings with two walks and a season-high-tying eight strikeouts.
Chicago reliever Tyler Davis (2-2) allowed three runs, two earned, and two hits in the 11th.
Colson Montgomery and Meidroth had two hits apiece for the White Sox.
The Twins went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position compared to the White Sox’s 2-for-13 in those situations.
