CHICAGO _ Tim Anderson hit a walk-off RBI single off Trevor Hildenberger in the ninth inning, and the White Sox rallied to beat the Twins, 4-3, on Wednesday night.
Hildenberger gave up a leadoff single to Avisail Garcia, who was sacrificed to second. After an intentional walk, Anderson hit a ball past shortstop Jorge Polanco, and Garcia easily beat Eddie Rosario's throw home.
Hildenberger had been one of the recent surprises in the Twins bullpen, after Taylor Rogers had impressed at the beginning of the season, but on Wednesday both faltered. Rogers gave up back-to-back doubles in the eighth inning to allow Chicago to tie the score.
The Twins are playing their longest series in more than a decade here this week. Forgive Polanco if he doesn't think it's long enough.
The Twins shortstop arrived at Guaranteed Rate Field on Monday with only three homers all season, and none in nearly two months. On Thursday, he will have a chance to put his name alongside Harmon Killebrew's in the annals of home-run hot streaks. Polanco whistled a 1-1 fourth-inning sidearm fastball from James Shields 15 rows deep in the right-field stands.
Polanco's fourth-inning blast gave him a home run in each of the first four games of this rare five-game series, marking the 28th time in Twins history a player has homered in four straight. Polanco can tie the franchise record of five _ accomplished by Killebrew three times, by Marty Cordova in 1995, and by Brian Dozier last season _ in Thursday's finale.
Shields limited the Twins to only three hits in his six innings, but Ervin Santana matched him over seven. Santana made only two real mistakes in his most effective outing since shutting out Cleveland on June 25 _ or three mistakes if you count some absent-minded defense.
The Twins right-hander retired the first eight batters he faced, a stretch broken up by No. 9 hitter Alan Hanson's hard grounder down the right-field line that came to rest short of the right-field fence. By the time Max Kepler retrieved it and rifled it to Polanco, Hanson had decided to stretch the play into a triple. Polanco's throw to Eduardo Escobar scooted past the third baseman as Hanson slid into the bag _ and because Santana had stood on the mound, neglecting his responsibility to back up the play, the ball rolled 60 feet away, enabling Hanson to leap to his feet and scurry home with the game's first run.
It was all Santana would allow until Chicago's leadoff hitter, Leury Garcia, turned on an inside fastball in the sixth inning and sailed it into the Twins bullpen, marking the ninth time in Santana's last 10 starts he has given up a home run.
But nobody is hitting home runs like Polanco, who now has 11 in his career, and six of them in Chicago. Polanco's blast wasn't his only contribution, though. In the sixth inning, after a Dozier walk and a Joe Mauer single in a 1-1 game, Polanco looped a single in front of Hanson in left field, scoring Dozier with the tiebreaking run. While Byron Buxton batted a few moments later, Mauer scored, too, on a wild pitch from Shields that bounced near the Twins' on-deck circle.
That free run became important two innings later, when Rogers, the Twins' most reliable reliever this season, entered the game for the first time since Friday. He hadn't allowed a run since Aug. 5, nor surrendered more than one hit in an appearance since July 24. But Garcia slugged a one-out double to the center-field fence, and Yoan Moncada followed by scorching a double down the left-field line, bringing the tying run home.
