Robert's grand slam powers White Sox to lopsided win over Twins
Luis Robert was the White Sox's best player down the stretch last year.
He was their best player in the playoffs.
Heading into this season, the 24-year-old center fielder was expected to pick up where he left off and many forecasters predicted he'd make an American League MVP run.
Robert's been good over the first half, and he headed into Thursday night's game Minnesota leading the Sox with 49 RBI while being tied with Jose Abreu for the team lead in home runs (11).
Not bad, but Robert's game still hasn't hit the expected heights.
In a big game against the first-place Twins at Target Field, Robert misread a pair of fly balls early, but he made up for the defensive miscues with one of the White Sox's bigger hits of the season.
With two outs in the fourth inning, Robert hit a grand slam off Minnesota starter Sonny Gray. The 452-foot blast into the second deck in left field powered the Sox to a 12-2 win in the first of a four-game series to close out the first half of the season.
The White Sox beat the Twins for only the second time in seven games this year and are now just 4 games out of first in the AL Central.
Johnny Cueto started for the Sox and limited Minnesota to 1 run on 7 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings.
Cueto's night appeared to be over after the fifth inning when his pitch count stood at 103. The 36-year-old righty came back out for the sixth, struck out the side and was done after throwing 118 pitches.
En route to winning their third game in a row, the Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles from Jose Abreu and Andrew Vaughn.
After Robert's grand slam in the fourth, he added a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and Abreu followed with a sacrifice fly.
Vaughn hit a solo home run in the seventh.
With Minnesota infielder/outfielder Nick Gordon pitching in the ninth inning, Seby Zavala closed out the scoring with a 3-run homer.
Eloy Jimenez was not in the starting lineup after leaving Wednesday night's game at Cleveland with right leg soreness.
Jimenez had surgery on April 26 to repair a torn tendon in his right hamstring and he appeared to aggravate it making a catch in left field to end the sixth inning.
An MRI didn't show anything serious, and White Sox manager Tony La Russa said Jimenez could be back on the field against Minnesota this weekend.
"We'll see what it feels like in the next couple days, be careful with him," La Russa told reporters. "A chance he might play this weekend. So far, the scan didn't show anything drastic happening. He has discomfort, a little cramping sensation."
Montgomery keeps on hitting:
•In his final at-bat Thursday night, high Class A Winston-Salem shortstop Colson Montgomery singled.
The White Sox's No. 1 prospect has now reached base safely in 48 straight games.