Twins wait out the rain, then hammer out a win over the White Sox

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — After Twins players sat in the visitor’s clubhouse for more than three hours, part of a 200-minute rain delay before Wednesday’s series finale, Byron Buxton provided an immediate wake-up call.

Buxton, on the 10th pitch of the afternoon, clobbered a 446-foot, solo homer into the mostly empty bleachers in center field. He turned to the dugout after taking a few steps up the first-base line and offered his typical Buck Truck celebration.

Harrison Bader bashed his third home run of the season in the fourth inning and Pablo López didn’t need much more help in a 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. The Twins took two of three games from their divisional rival before returning to Minnesota for their home opener Thursday.

The Twins, despite their miserable four-game start and a 2-4 record, are in a five-way tie for the American League Central lead through the first week of the season.

With the weather and a small crowd, it was one of those games when players needed to provide their own energy. Buxton hammered a slider that didn’t slide from White Sox Opening Day starter Sean Burke in the top of the first inning, then opened the bottom half of the inning with a diving catch on a ball that hung up in the wind.

Carlos Correa, who started the season in a 0-for-18 slump, produced two hits. When Correa hit a ground-ball single through the right side of the infield in the third inning, he raised his arms to the sky in relief. Teammates jokingly called for the ball to be thrown to the dugout as a memento.

Correa ended the third inning with a terrific over-the-shoulder basket catch in left field.

The next inning was Bader’s turn to pump up the dugout. Facing Burke, who remained in the game despite Matt Wallner hitting a line drive off his right leg with a 108-mph exit velocity in the third inning, Bader connected on another slider that stayed over the middle of the plate.

Bader has never hit more than 16 home runs in a season, but he already has hit three through his first 14 at-bats this year.

The Twins knocked Burke, who entered with a 1.08 ERA through his first five career starts, out of the game in the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles from Correa and Buxton. Ty France greeted reliever Cam Booser with an RBI double that he hooked down the left-field line.

López, who had trouble putting away hitters with two strikes in an Opening Day loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, surrendered four hits and one run in seven innings. After striking out two batters in the first inning, both on called third strikes, López was content staying in the strike zone and inducing weak contact as he retired 14 of his first 15 batters.

In the seventh inning, López watched White Sox second baseman Brooks Baldwin hit a first-pitch change-up over the wall in right-center field for a solo homer. López has given up two homers on his change-up this season, already surpassing how many he allowed on his change-up (one) last year.

The Twins have won each of their past seven series against the White Sox, dating to July 2023.