White Sox rough up Twins again, complete three-game sweep

For Josh Donaldson and the Twins, it's back to the drawing board.

Or - much more likely - look ahead to next year.

Donaldson confronted White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito in the players' parking lot at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night, for two reasons.

First, he heard Giolito call him a "bleeping pest" in his postgame Zoom call and felt he had a score to settle.

Donaldson said his mocking gesture after homering off Giolito and his aggressive postgame response was aimed more toward injecting some needed life into a reeling Minnesota team.

"At the end of the day, that wasn't my intention," Donaldson said of his beef with Giolito. "My intentions are to try to get out there and motivate our team to play well."

It didn't work.

On Thursday afternoon, the Sox completed a three-game sweep over the Twins with an 8-5 win.

The White Sox lead the season series 8-1 and have outscored Minnesota 76-37. The Twins (33-46), who have won the AL Central the last two years, now trail the first-place Sox (48-32) by a staggering 14½ games.

"Obviously, every game matters, but when you're playing within the division they matter a little more," said starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who allowed 4 runs over 5 innings. "Those are the games we have to win, the games we have to come ready to play. We showed up."

The White Sox's offense stepped up, scoring 28 runs in the three games vs. Minnesota. In Thursday's victory, catcher Zack Collins snapped a 4-4 tie with a solo home run in the sixth inning before adding an RBI single in the seventh.

"Super important," Collins said. "This is a huge series for us. We kind of made a statement. It was pretty big."

It was a big win, but the Sox had another concerning injury.

In the third inning, Yoan Moncada singled and went to third base on Jose Abreu's single.

Moncada had an awkward slide into third and had to leave the game with a bruised right hand. He's not expected to play the Sox's next three games at Detroit.

"He's got some swelling," manager Tony La Russa said. "Looks like he'll probably miss the weekend series. But evidently, it means that we think he could be ready by the time we go to Minnesota (Monday).

"So he's sore, and it's going to affect swinging and throwing. We'll do something about it. Have to play without him."

If needed, the White Sox could call top prospect Jake Burger up from Class AAA Charlotte to replace Moncada.