CHICAGO — Byron Buxton looked at four pitches from rookie Shane Smith and then took his base. Trevor Larnach watched five more go by, four of them balls, before taking his base, as well.
Those two walks spelled the end of Smith’s night and set the stage for the Twins to finally break out. With two outs in the sixth inning, facing reliever Penn Murfee, the Twins’ offense came to life, erupting for five runs — all with two outs — to lift them to their first victory of the season, a 8-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field.
The Twins, prior to that point, had managed just two hits off of Smith, a Rule 5 draft pick making his major league debut. But after his departure, the Twins’ offense took out its frustration on Murfee.
Ryan Jeffers drove in the Twins’ first run since the fourth inning on Sunday to get the scoring going. Ty France followed, sending an RBI single into center. After Willi Castro was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Edouard Julien, making his first start of the season, took advantage of his opportunity, singling to left to tie up the game.
Jose Miranda then dropped a softly-hit ball — it was struck at 65.1 miles per hour off the bat — in between first baseman Andrew Vaughn and right fielder Austin Slater, giving the Twins a two-run lead.
And in the ninth, Harrison Bader crushed a breaking ball left over the heart of the plate, sending it out of the park to left to give the Twins a cushion. The eight-run output more than doubled the Twins’ offensive production to date after a slow collective start at the plate.
It came in support of Simeon Woods Richardson who, in his first start of the season, went four innings and allowed a pair of runs. One scored in the second on a Brooks Baldwin RBI single and the other in the fourth on a Baldwin sacrifice fly.
Woods Richardson made way for Louie Varland, who gave up a solo home run to designated hitter Nick Maton but still earned the victory.
But after that, a quartet of Twins relievers — Cole Sands, Jorge Alcala, Griffin Jax and Danny Coulombe — each turned in a scoreless inning to secure the Twins’ first win of the season.
