The Chicago White Sox wrapped up their previous homestand with a 14-inning loss to the Colorado Rockies.
They began their final homestand before the All-Star break with more bonus baseball, falling 8-6 to the Minnesota Twins in 11 innings Monday in front of 10,881 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
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“It was a tough one,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “Our guys did a good job offensively early, and then we’ve got to find a way to put some points on the board late in games. To be able to win in this league, you’ve got to be able to do that.
“You’ve got to shut guys down late and you’ve got to add some runs or be able to come back at times. (The Twins) have a really good bullpen back there, they have some really good arms as they displayed today, but we’ve got to find ways to win.”
The Sox squandered a solid outing by starter Chris Flexen — two runs in six innings — and dropped to 3-7 in extra innings.
They saw a 5-2 lead turn into a 6-5 deficit when the Twins scored four in the seventh against reliever Jordan Leasure, who returned to the majors from Triple-A Charlotte on Monday.
Brooks Lee drove in a run with a single. Matt Wallner hit a game-tying, two-run home run that had a 116.7 mph exit velocity. And with two outs, Carlos Correa put the Twins ahead with a towering solo home run to left.
“Leasure hadn’t thrown in three days and he was ready to go,” Grifol said. “It was the right situation for him. Against this lineup, there’s really no soft landing, but a three-run lead in the seventh inning, we were all comfortable giving him the ball and saying, ‘Hey, go get three outs.’ Just didn’t happen.”
The Sox tied it in the eighth on Nicky Lopez’s two-out bloop double.
“I’m feeling confident right now, and sometimes you’ve got to ride that confident wave,” said Lopez, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
The game went into extra innings, where Michael Kopech had a bounce-back 1-2-3 inning a day after surrendering four in the ninth in a 7-4 loss to the Miami Marlins.
“I was really happy with the way he responded from yesterday’s outing and coming out, man on second base, and making really good pitches,” Grifol said.
After the Sox came up empty in their half of the 10th, the Twins came through with two in the 11th. Lee broke the tie with an RBI single against Jared Shuster. The Twins scored another run on a slow grounder to third.
The Sox were retired in order in the bottom of the 11th to suffer their sixth loss in eight games. At 26-67, they’re a season-high 41 games under .500 and they’re 0-8 against the Twins.
“Those close ones hurt,” Lopez said. “You want to see it go your way and build that confidence and let us get on a roll, and sometimes when you see us lose those games, those tough one-run games, it can weigh on us a little bit.
“But like I’ve said before, you’ve got to come to the ballpark ready to compete again. It is in the past, we can’t take that back. What is it, 67 games that we’ve lost, and a lot of them are probably close to being one-run (8-18 record), two-run (6-11) games. It’s tough. You think half of those go your way and we’re thinking a little bit different.”