MINNEAPOLIS — The White Sox shouldn’t have let Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez up when they had him down.
After Lopez shredded the Sox lineup retiring 23 batters in a row, a Luis Robert leadoff homer in the ninth against Jhoan Duran forced extra innings, but the Twins won in the 10th when third baseman Hanser Alberto’s throw to first on Michael Taylor’s sac bunt attempt, allowing Willi Castro to score the winning run in a 4-3 Sox loss.
After Andrew Vaughn’s bases-loaded double off the left-field wall in the first gave the Sox and righty Lance Lynn a 2-0 lead, Lopez retired 23 Sox in a row. The streak started with runners on second and third with no outs following the Vaughn double, when Yasmani Grandal struck out and Jake Burger and Oscar Colas grounded out.
It ended with Lopez striking out Romy Gonzalez and Elvis Andrus, his ninth and 10th victims, to open the Sox eighth. At 98 pitches, his night was done.
Sox right-hander Lance Lynn, who also threw 98 pitches, also had some early trouble to get through after Byron Buxton homered in the first and Michael Taylor homered in the second to give the Twins a 3-2 lead. Lynn then retired 13 of the next 16 batters. He finished with 10 strikeouts in six innings.
It was the 23rd time Lynn struck out 10 or more batters and fourth time with 10 or more and no walks.
Keynan Middleton, in his Sox debut, struck out the first three batters and recorded four straight outs.
The new leadoff man
In 410 career plate appearances batting first, Andrew Benintendi took a .270/.358/.446 hitting line into Tuesday. It’s a spot where Grifol might keep him for a while with Anderson on the IL.
Benintendi is no speedster but Grifol likes how he handles the bat and gets on base. He led off Tuesday’s game against Twins righty Pablo Lopez with a single and scored.
“It’s the same as any spot in the order,” Benintendi said Tuesday. “I don’t try to do anything different. Just come up more often.”
Benintendi was a career .279/.351/.429 hitter, so the numbers back that up.
“Benintendi can hit anywhere in the lineup,” Grifol said. “He’s the guy I feel can best get the table set in place of TA. He’s a guy that knows what he needs to do every time he steps to the plate. And he gets on base. If he gets on base in front of the guys that can drive him in, that’s where he belongs. He’s not going to get overwhelmed by anyone in this game.”
Costly execution
Grifol had no beef with 6-5, 220-pound Matt Wallner’s slide that sprained Tim Anderson’s knee Monday. Anderson was in an awkward position.
“That was on us. That wasn’t on them,” Grifol said. “It was a poorly executed rundown. He did what he had to do. Unfortunately it cost us Timmy on the but I didn’t see anything wrong with it.”
Who’s on second
Gonzalez started at second base with Elvis Andrus taking over as the regular shortstop, where he has played his entire career. Hanser Alberto can play second base, as can Lenyn Sosa, who was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
“We’ll match that up as we see fit,” Grifol said.
Sosa, 23, was 13-for-29 (.448) with two homers and two home runs and seven walks over nine games with Charlotte. He can play shortstop, second base and third base but might go back to Charlotte when Eloy Jimenez comes off the IL.