White Sox pick up slack for Abreu, beat up on Twins
No Jose Abreu, no problem.
Playing the first of the three games against the Twins without their best hitter Monday night, the White Sox rolled to a 16-4 win at Target Field.
"When a guy's hurting like that, everybody wants to step up," Danny Mendick said. "He's our captain. He's the best."
Mendick was pretty good himself as the Sox gave Minnesota another beating.
Starting the game in right field before moving to third base and finishing at shortstop, Mendick hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs.
Nick Madrigal (3-for-5, 2 RBI) also stepped up while hitting his first major-league home run, Yermin Mercedes hiked his batting average to .364 after going 3-for-6 with a homer and 3 RBI and Leury Garcia and Billy Hamilton each had 2 RBI.
"I knew I wasn't going to go the whole season without hitting one," Madrigal said. "I didn't even know it went out. I was sprinting the bases like it was a triple. It's just a great feeling."
The White Sox pounded out 18 hits while winning for the ninth time in 11 games.
"We had good patience, a lot of good swings," manager Tony La Russa said. "Everybody hit. One through 9, they were relentless."
The Twins finished first in the AL Central in each of the last two seasons, but they are 13-26 this year.
The Sox are 4-0 against Minnesota this season and have outscored the Twins 42-17.
"We're taking really, really, really good at-bats," said White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel, who cruised to his third win of the season after pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 runs. "We're not missing the pitches we need to hit, that's the bottom line. My job tonight was just to go out there and get some outs.
"When you play like this, that's about the most fun you can have. It's pure joy."
Anderson extends hit streak:
On a tear heading into Monday night's game against the Twins, Tim Anderson stayed hot with a leadoff single and another single in the fourth inning.
The White Sox's shortstop now has a 12-game hitting streak, the longest in the major leagues.
Anderson was the American League batting champion in 2019 with a .335 batting average and he finished second last season at .322.
He's hitting in the same range this year and is making another run at the title.
"I feel great," said Anderson, who was out April 5-14 with a hamstring injury. "I'm just at a point where I understand my work and I understand what I'm doing and knowing what guys are trying to do me. It's just going in the cage and really taking a swing on every pitch I think they're going to throw me that night."