Photo: The Canadian Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Brooks Lee and Manuel Margot drove in runs in the 11th inning and the Minnesota Twins topped the Chicago White Sox 8-6 on Monday night.
Lee's second RBI single of his sixth big league game scored automatic runner Max Kepler. Byron Buxton raced home from third on Margot's soft groundout, and the Twins won their third straight while improving to 8-0 against the major league-worst White Sox this season.
The 23-year-old Lee made his debut last Wednesday and has jumped right in on a hot-swinging Twins team. The infielder has hit safely in all his games and is batting .458 (11 for 24).
“It's awesome. It's so fun,” Lee said. "I would hope I play well. I never think I'm not going to play good.
“It's just been such a special week for me and my family, too. It still feels like a blur.”
Jhoan Duran (5-3) pitched a hitless 10th for the win. Kody Funderburk, the seventh Twins reliever, worked a perfect inning for his first career save.
Jared Shuster (1-2) allowed both runs in the 11th and took the loss as the White Sox fell a season-worst 41 games below .500 (26-67).
Chicago's Nicky Lopez looped a double in the eighth for his second hit and RBI of the game, tying it at 6.
Carlos Correa hit a towering solo homer to cap a four-run seventh that put the Twins ahead 6-5. Correa’s 12th homer followed Matt Wallner's two-run drive off reliever Jordan Leasure that tied it 5-all.
Trevor Larnach also went deep as the Twins extended their team-record home run streak to 26 games.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Wallner played his second game since his recall from Triple-A and scorched the ball to right field with a 116.7 mph exit velocity.
“I think it's as good a lineup as you see in baseball right now,” Wallner said. “Guys are feeling good ... and just trying to complement each other.”
Buxton had three hits and an RBI.
Light-hitting White Sox catcher Martín Maldonado smacked his third homer, and second in three games. He entered batting .101.
Eloy Jiménez, the oft-injured slugger in the middle of Chicago’s lineup, had two hits and drove in a run to snap a 10-game drought without an RBI. Corey Julks added an RBI double.
Leasure, recalled from Triple-A Charlotte earlier in the day, was tagged for four runs and got only two outs after inheriting a 5-2 lead from starter Chris Flexen.
“I bet most of our guys did not know that was the situation for the reliever coming in,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “They're focused just on where to look and what to do with the stuff that he has. A lot of guys are falling into a good place and feeling good at the plate.”
Twins starter Chris Paddack allowed two runs and three hits in five innings after being reinstated from the 15-day injured list. The right-hander walked two, struck out three and threw 78 pitches as he came back from right arm fatigue.
Flexen gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out four and walking one.
“Another really good start by our starters — they gave us a chance to win,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We had a three-run lead and we couldn’t put them away, seventh inning on.”
Larnach's homer in the first put Minnesota ahead. Maldonado’s shot in the third tied it at 1.
The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on doubles by Kepler and Buxton. Lopez scored on Julks’ double to tie it at 2.
Jiménez and Lopez had RBI singles in Chicago’s three-run sixth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Correa was back in the lineup after leaving in the first inning of Sunday’s 3-2 win over Houston when he was hit on the right hand by a pitch. … To make room for Paddack, the Twins optioned RHP Josh Widner to Triple-A St. Paul.
White Sox: OF Tommy Pham was scratched from the lineup with a dental issue, the team said … CF Luis Robert Jr. didn’t start on a scheduled day off, but entered as a pinch hitter in the sixth.
UP NEXT
The Twins send RHP Bailey Ober (8-4, 4.12 ERA) to the mound against White Sox RHP Erick Fedde (6-3, 3.13) on Tuesday.
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