MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox penciled in Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel at the top of their lineup Thursday against the Minnesota Twins.
The rookies had big nights at the plate, helping the Sox to an 11-8 victory in front of 13,188 at Target Field.
Quero, serving as the designated hitter, had three hits and scored twice. Teel, tasked with the catching duties, also collected three hits — including a three-run home run — and four RBIs.
According to STATS, it’s the first time in franchise history the Sox have had rookies in the top two spots each record at least three hits.
“I felt like Edgar set the tone tonight leading off,” Teel said. “Great at-bats all day, three hits. Set the tone and it was a pleasure to bat behind him.”
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Another rookie, Colson Montgomery, added a two-run homer in the ninth as the Sox won their fifth straight, a season high.
“They did a great job,” manager Will Venable said of Quero and Teel. “We had a lot of guys do a great job tonight, especially offensively, but those two at the top did an outstanding job setting the tone for the group.
“Big swing by Colson, (Curtis) Mead had a great game (two doubles and two RBIs), (rookie Chase) Meidroth had a great game (four hits), Michael A. Taylor contributed to a big inning. So just up and down the lineup, really great stuff, and it started with those two at the top.”
The Sox rallied from a three-run deficit to complete a sweep of the four-game series in a game that began after a 90-minute rain delay.
“We play hard, no matter what,” Quero said.
Quero doubled and scored on a Teel single in the third. Teel later scored on a two-run double by Mead as the Sox built a 3-0 lead.
The Twins scored five runs in the fourth against Jonathan Cannon. The right-hander allowed five runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 relief innings in his return from Triple-A Charlotte.
“A couple of walks there, a couple of singles and ended up throwing a ton of pitches and kind of put myself in a bad spot,” Cannon said.
The Sox were down but not out.
Teel doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Montgomery to get the Sox within 5-4 in the fifth. But the Twins scored once in the fifth and again in the sixth against Tyler Alexander to take a 7-4 lead.
The Sox stormed back with a five-run seventh.
Taylor and Quero began the inning with consecutive singles against reliever Travis Adams. Teel tied the game with a three-run homer to right, his sixth of the season.
“I was just trying to catch it out front and drive those guys in,” Teel said. “(It was a) 3-1 count, just trying to do damage. That’s what happened.”
Adams hit Lenyn Sosa with a pitch and was replaced by Génesis Cabrera, who hit Montgomery.
Sosa advanced to third on a flyout and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Andrew Benintendi to give the Sox an 8-7 lead.
Meidroth reached on an infield hit, with Montgomery moving up to third. It appeared the inning had come to an end when Brooks Baldwin hit a fly to center, but a balk was called before the pitch was thrown and Montgomery scored to extend the lead to 9-7.
The Sox staged comebacks in each game during the series.
“I would say we are extremely resilient,” Teel said. “We have a lot of fight. And to come back in multiple games this week just goes to show that.”
Montgomery added insurance in the ninth with the two-run homer, his 17th.
The Sox earned their first four-game sweep of the Twins since June 6-9, 2008, at what was then called U.S. Cellular Field. It’s the first time the Sox have swept a four-game series at Target Field.
“So proud of the group,” Venable said. “We talked about it all year with these guys continuing to fight and obviously earlier in the year not getting the results.
“But that never stopped this group from continuing to go out there and fight, and it’s really nice to continue that competitive spirit and get some good results.”
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