Gavin Sheets’ walk-off 3-run homer gives the Chicago White Sox a doubleheader split against the Minnesota Twins: ‘It’s a huge momentum swing’
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The Chicago White Sox were on the verge of getting swept by the Minnesota Twins in a doubleheader.
That changed with one swing from Gavin Sheets.
The rookie continued to contribute in a big way Monday, hitting a walk-off three-run home run in the seventh inning to give the Sox a 5-3 victory in front of 18,272 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“I tried to take it all in,” Sheets said of his trip around the bases. “Between the lights and the excitement and seeing everybody out of the dugout, that was the best part.
“Just the excitement. This could have been a tough day for us and go 0-2. To get that win there was huge for all of us. Everybody showed their emotion there. I tried to take it in with them.”
The Sox dropped the first game of the doubleheader 3-2 in eight innings. They entered the seventh inning of Game 2 trailing by the same score and had just two hits.
Brian Goodwin started the inning with a single. Andrew Vaughn got hit by a pitch.
The runners moved up on a wild pitch by Twins starter José Berríos and came home on the blast by Sheets, his fifth home run of the season.
“He was really good all game,” Sheets said of Berríos. “I tried to stay middle of the field and see something up in the zone. I had been chasing down on his changeup. Trying to protect a little against the changeup. Just trying to stay in the middle of the field and get Goody in from third.”
He got Goodwin home — and then some.
“He’s a part of the team that’s been doing that, those heroics,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “And it was such a tough day, they pitched us so well. Berríos was almost unhittable.
“It’s why the game is just crazy. You try to say you understand it and can predict it, you’re fooling yourself and everybody else. The guy’s out there pitching a beauty, and we get three. We kept trying, and sometimes it works.”
Game 1 also featured strong pitching.
Video: Gavin Sheets Blasts Walk-Off Three-Run Homer (Stadium)
Sox starter Lance Lynn allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts and one walk in seven innings in his first outing since signing a contract extension Saturday.
“The big thing is don’t suck the first one out after it,” Lynn said. “You’re honored to get that extension and be here. You want to make sure you go out and prove it. You definitely don’t want to have a bad one the first one back after it.
“When it’s all said and done, you’ve got to go out there and make pitches and stay within yourself. I was able to do it.”
The game went to extra innings tied at 1. The Twins loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth against reliever Garrett Crochet, who struck out Trevor Larnach. Ryan Burr entered to face Nelson Cruz, who hit a sacrifice fly to center. Jorge Polanco followed with an RBI single, making it 3-1.
The Sox scored once in the bottom of the eighth but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Crochet allowed two runs (one earned) in one-third of an inning for the loss.
“(Lynn) was outstanding,” La Russa said. “(Twins starter Griffin) Jax pitched very well against us too. A well-pitched game. Tough on the offenses.”
Lynn saw his ERA fall to 1.94 with the help of the defense, including Godwin’s running catch on the right-field warning track of a slicing Josh Donaldson liner in the first and a basket catch by shortstop Tim Anderson on a Larnach popup in shallow left for the final out of the third.
“All in all, one bad pitch cost me a run,” Lynn said. “Threw the ball pretty well besides that. You just try to stay within yourself, stay doing what you know that you’re trying to do, stay in the game plan. And for the most part, I did that. It just didn’t work out today.”
Anderson hit a solo home run in the third to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games. It was his third straight game with a home run.
He has at least one hit and one run in 12 straight games, extending a team record.
“He plays that way every day,” La Russa said. “Makes defensive plays, he gets to balls, especially balls in the air when he gets a chance to. He’s swinging it well. He’s playing at a consistently very high level, and it’s one of the big reasons why we are where we are.”
Anderson wasn’t in the lineup in Game 2, but José Abreu provided the early power with a solo home run in the first to tie the score at 1.
Mitch Garver hit a solo homer in the second against Sox starter Reynaldo López and another in the fifth against Matt Foster, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead. López allowed two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in three innings.
Yoán Moncada cut the deficit to 3-2 with a solo homer in the sixth.
Sheets gave the Sox three home runs in the game as the night ended with a split and a celebration at home plate.
“That doesn’t happen unless the first two guys get on in front of me,” Sheets said. “Unless Goody has that great two-strike hit and Vaughn gets hit on that pitch, that walk-off doesn’t happen without those two guys.
“That was huge for us. It’s a huge momentum swing going into the rest of the series. Now we have a chance to win the series as opposed to just tie one.”