MINNEAPOLIS — Chicago White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi charged in, slipped but still made a catch on a shallow fly to left by Brooks Lee in the first inning Tuesday at Target Field.
“I tried to slow down and my foot slipped out there,” Benintendi said. “It was a little wet out there. Glad my knee didn’t blow up. I was just glad to be able to make the catch. It would have been pretty embarrassing if you drop that one.”
Benintendi found his footing at the plate in the second inning, hitting a solo home run. It was the first of four hits on the night for Benintendi, who later hit a three-run home run.
The Sox finished with four home runs, clobbering the Minnesota Twins 12-3 in front of 11,721 at Target Field.
Benintendi had five RBIs. Bryan Ramos and Will Robertson both drove in two. In addition to the two home runs by Benintendi, Kyle Teel and Lenyn Sosa also went deep in the win.
“Guys have committed to being on time and are making good swing decisions, putting them in really good spots to drive the ball,” manager Will Venable said of the team’s 66 home runs since the All-Star break. “Obviously, Colson (Montgomery) has been hitting his homers, but it’s come from a lot of different spots.”
Starter Davis Martin picked up the victory, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks in six innings.
“There was no doubt about it, it was a gritty outing,” Martin said. “Had some jam shots, a leadoff triple (in the first), which is usually not a great tone setter.
“Be efficient, four pitches or less. How can we get these guys in and out of the box with your best stuff? Once we simplified that it’s when we got guys going in and out.”
The Sox trailed 3-1 in the fifth when Brooks Baldwin began the inning with a walk. Robertson broke his bat while bouncing one back to the mound. Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson dodged the bat while fielding the grounder, but then made a high throw to second and both runners were safe. Ramos followed with a game-tying two-run double.
The Sox broke that tie in the sixth against reliever Thomas Hatch. Montgomery walked. Curtis Mead hit a grounder to third. Ryan Fitzgerald fielded it cleanly, but his throw to second was off the mark and both runners were safe. Benintendi then drove in Montgomery with a single, giving the Sox a 4-3 lead. Baldwin made it 5-3 with another RBI single. He had three hits.
“We took advantage of some of their mistakes and were able to score off some of their mistakes, which is part of the game, but you’ve got to do your job offensively and make sure you make them pay for that and we did,” Venable said. “And then once we got the starter out, we did a nice job against the bullpen, scored in every way possible, some good situational hitting, obviously the homers were great and contributions from everyone.”
Teel led off the seventh with a home run, his fifth of the season. Three pitches later, Sosa hit his team-leading 19th home run of the year. Robertson added a two-run single later in the inning.
“It’s a quick way to score runs,” Benintendi said of the team’s success hitting homers in the second half. “We’re a pretty streaky team, we kind of get going and then just pass the baton to the next guy. Showed that tonight. It’s been like that, I feel, for most of the second half.
“Up and down the lineup, everyone’s been producing.”
Benintendi connected for the three-run home run in the eighth against Noah Davis. He is second on the team with 17 home runs.
“He just looked like he was in a good spot from the first pitch of the game where he was seeing the ball, he was on time,” Venable said. “He used the whole field tonight and obviously the couple big swings on the pull side.”
The Sox (51-88) finished with 13 hits and have followed a five-game losing streak with three consecutive victories. The Sox are 6-6 through the first 12 games of their stretch of 17 contests in 17 days.
“We already spend a lot of time together, you take away the off days sprinkled in here and there and that’s 17 12-hour days in a row with each other,” Martin said. “That’s either going to break you apart or really hold you together. It’s keeping us together.
“We are having fun and finding ways to laugh and enjoy every day.”