CHICAGO _ The Twins on Friday continued their winning ways against the White Sox, belting two more home runs, getting seven solid inning from right-hander Michael Pineda and going on to a 6-2 win at Guarantee Rate Field.
The Twins improved to 6-2 on the season against the White Sox and have gone 30-16 against them since the start of the 2017 season.
Pineda held the Twins to two runs on six hits over seven innings as he improved to 7-5. It was the second consecutive game a Twins starter has pitched at least seven innings, a significant development for a staff that had been taxed during battles with the Athletics and the Yankees over the past week. It has allowed manager Rocco Baldelli to reset his relief corps, which will be an immediate benefit.
After beating Chicago right-hander Lucas Giolito on Thursday, the Twins had favorable matchups for the remaining three games of the four-game series. That included Friday when they took aim at rookie right-hander Dylan Cease, who was making his fourth major league start.
It didn't seem possible that Cease would still be in the game in the middle innings after the Twins scored five runs off of him in the second, including a home run of note.
The Twins loaded the bases with one out against Cease, who fought command issues early. Then Byron Buxton sent a fly ball to left that three White Sox players converged on. John Jay, the left fielder, caught the somewhat shallow fly ball but then bumped into shortstop Ryan Goins and was turned around. Luis Arraez, the runner on third, took advantage and scored without a throw for the first run of the game.
That brought up Max Kepler. Cease fell behind Kepler 3-1 then threw him two curveballs. Kepler took the first one for a strike, then struck the next one. The ball took off for the right field stands and became the 200th home run of the season for the BombaSquad.
The Twins achieved the feat in 103 games, the fastest the team to do so. The 2005 Rangers held the previous record, achieved in 122 games.
And another countdown is on, as the 1963 Twins hold the club record of 225 home runs hit in a single season. That one could be devoured in a month.
Kepler continued his dominance at the plate, as he has four home runs and 10 RBIs over his last six games.
Cease looked ready to cease pitching at that point, as the Twins sent 10 batters to the plate in the second.
Just like that, the Twins stopped scoring. Cease made some adjustments to his pitching selection and was able to carve out five innings of work, retiring nine consecutive Twins at one point.
Pineda was set up to cruise through the evening, but he gave up a two-run blast to Adam Engel in the third inning that made it 5-2.
And Chicago wasn't getting out of the game without another home run by Nelson Cruz. The designated hitter belted a 432-foot home run off of reliever Ross Detwiler in the seventh to give the Twins a 6-2 lead. That gave Cruz home runs in five consecutive games, during which he's gone deep seven times. He has 10 home runs this month.
Pineda was replaced by Lewis Thorpe for the eighth. Pineda has at least pitched into the sixth inning in his last five starts.
