CHICAGO _ Kyle Gibson tip-toed to the very brink of disaster, inches from an ugly end to Tuesday night's start, perhaps the demise of his spot in the starting rotation, and conceivably even the finish to his Twins career.
And then he turned around.
Gibson, who surrendered six hits and a walk to the first 13 batters he faced, gave up only one more hit to the next 15 batters, turning in his finest performance of the season to lead the Twins to a 4-1 victory over the White Sox.
The win, powered by three home runs from the Twins' ever-robust August offense, allowed the Twins to hold on to sole possession of the second wild-card spot in the American League, and potentially pull within 4{ games of first place in the AL Central.
None of that seemed likely as Gibson scrambled to keep runs off the board in the first three innings. He gave up a double to rookie Yoan Moncada in the first inning, and threw a wild pitch to allow him to score. He surrendered singles to three of the first four batters in the second inning, but benefited from a foiled sacrifice bunt, struck out Adam Engel and retired Leury Garcia to escape with no damage.
And if Tuesday night somehow, some way represents a turnaround for the fifth-year right-hander, historians will be able to pinpoint the exact moment Gibson executed it. Moncada doubled to open the third inning, Jose Abreu reached on a lucky-bounce infield hit and Nicky Delmonico walked on six pitches, the last a 3-2 fastball that was several inches too high.
Nobody visited the mound. Nobody warmed up in the bullpen. Gibson, as shaky as he's been during a bitterly disappointing season, was left to extricate himself.
And he did.
Gibson struck out Avisail Garcia on three pitches, the last two a curveball and a slider that bounced in the dirt but were smothered by Jason Castro. Yolmer Sanchez fouled off two pitches, only one in the strike zone, took a high fastball, then swung at a changeup that may have clipped the bottom of the zone.
By now emboldened, Gibson fed Tim Anderson four sliders, none of them high enough to be strikes, and the shortstop swung and missed at three of them, turning a potential game-breaking rally into a triumph for the beleaguered Twins starter.
From there, Gibson rolled, facing only three batters in each of the next four innings, erasing Chicago's lone baserunner in that stretch, on a Yolmer single, with a quick double play. Gibson, who hadn't thrown a pitch in the seventh inning for exactly a month, left after throwing just 91 pitches over seven, striking out eight batters, most of them with that slider in the dirt.
Minnesota, meanwhile, spoiled highly touted prospect Lucas Giolito's Chicago debut, and they did it with another home run spree. Jorge Polanco, half of who's 10 career home runs have come in Chicago, connected for the third straight game, a 408-foot solo shot to lead off the fourth inning. Kennys Vargas led off the fifth inning by smashing a homer to right field on an 0-2 count, the first time in his career he's done that.
And Eddie Rosario drove in Joe Mauer, who had doubled, with a two-run shot to center in the sixth inning, the Twins' eighth home run in the series' three games thus far.
