MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox were in a four-run hole Monday against the Minnesota Twins after Tristan Gray’s fourth-inning grand slam.
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But third baseman Miguel Vargas hit a two-run home run in the fifth, which was followed by a home run from Andrew Benintendi to bring the Sox within a run.
“This is a team, we don’t give up at any stage of the game,” Vargas said. “I feel like the way we’re playing, we feel we can win any game at any stage of the game.”
Did the Sox have another comeback in them?
Not Monday.
The Twins responded with a pair of RBI singles and two sacrifice flies during a four-run bottom of the fifth on the way to defeating the Sox 9-6 in front of 12,525 at Target Field.
Vargas added a second two-run home run in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as the Sox saw their five-game winning streak end.
Starter David Sandlin allowed eight runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and four walks in four-plus innings in his second big-league outing.
“Just didn’t do my job today,” Sandlin said. “Guys fought, battled their way back. Just plain and simple didn’t execute, didn’t fill up the zone. That’s on me.”
In his major-league debut last week against the Twins, Sandlin retired 18 consecutive batters after surrendering a leadoff home run to Byron Buxton.
He allowed another first-inning run against the Twins on Monday, this time on a two-out RBI single by Trevor Larnach. The Sox tied the score with a two-out RBI single by Benintendi in the third.
Gray broke the tie with the grand slam in the fourth.
“Obviously knew the outing last week is not going to happen every time,” Sandlin said. “Today is evident of that. Just got to keep working on holding runners. I think the game sped up a little bit on me there.
“Should have turned a double play (on an Austin Martin grounder back to the mound during the fourth). Would have (potentially) been out of that inning and the home run doesn’t happen. That’s on me, again. Just calming myself down and getting back after it.
“Learning experience. Can’t sit here and beat myself up for no reason. Just got to get back to work and get ready for the next outing.”
The home runs by Vargas and Benintendi in the fifth made it 5-4. But Sandlin began the bottom of the fifth with a walk, a single and another walk, exiting after 80 pitches.
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“The walks there put him in a tough spot,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “There was a lot of traffic that (he) wasn’t able to work through. Got beat on some different pitches in the zone and then wasn’t around the zone in some of the at-bats. So a lot of traffic all day long.”
Asked about the impact of pitching out of the stretch, an aspect Sandlin had been working on and didn’t have to do during his previous start, Venable said: “Whether it was that he was pitching out of the stretch or whatever, he wasn’t as effective in the zone as we saw him in his first outing. That’s something he’ll work on. He was around the zone at points. They did a good job of hitting a lot of different pitches that were in the zone too.”
Austin Martin drove in a run with a bases-loaded single against reliever Tyler Davis. Victor Caratini followed with an RBI single. Then came a sacrifice fly by Luke Keaschall and another by Gray, stretching the lead to 9-4.
Vargas’ two-run home run in the ninth tied him with Colson Montgomery for second on the team with 15. The offense continues to settle in while Munetaka Murakami — who leads the Sox with 20 home runs — is on the injured list.
“It’s not just about one guy, it’s all nine hitters doing their job and being consistent at the plate,” Vargas said. “I think we’re going to be in a good spot, and hopefully Mune comes back soon.”