April 15--Avisail Garcia hit his second homer of the season an estimated 424 feet to center field to help the White Sox to a 3-1 victory over the Twins on Thursday at Target Field.
Garcia, back in the lineup after a night off Wednesday, added a leadoff double in the seventh inning. He advanced on J.B. Shuck's sacrifice bunt and scored on Tyler Saladino's sacrifice fly to right field, just beating Miguel Sano's spot-on throw to the plate.
The Sox improved to 7-2, their best nine-game start since they went 8-1 in 1981. The Twins dropped to 0-9.
At the plate
Adam Eaton, who entered Thursday hitting .393, led off the game with a double, and he scored following back-to-back singles from Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu.
On the mound
Right-hander Mat Latos gave up one run on three hits with a walk, a hit batter and four strikeouts over six innings.
In the field
Joe Mauer's leadoff triple to left field escaped Melky Cabrera's diving reach in the fourth inning, and Mauer scored on Trevor Plouffe's groundout to cut the Sox lead to 2-1.
Key number
7 -- Quality starts over the first nine games for Sox starting pitchers.
The quote
"You can get your teeth kicked in by anybody. I know we had a hard time playing these guys the last couple of years. We've seen them when they've gotten hot and taken it to us. I understand their situation over there, but you don't let up at all.
"And I don't think anybody is really looking at it as this is the indication of how they are going to be at the end of the year. So you just continue to play and try to win your games. It's a league where nobody feels sorry for you." -- Sox manager Robin Ventura on the Twins 0-8 start entering Thursday
Up next
At Rays, 6:10 p.m. Friday. LH Chris Sale vs. RH Jake Odorizzi.
