CHICAGO — As the rain started and stopped throughout Wednesday afternoon, the Twins waited inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Rate Field, keeping themselves ready to play.
Their long wait — the Twins and White Sox were delayed for 3:20 before their series finale, the third rain delay in their first six games — was ultimately worth it. Once they finally hit the field, the Twins salvaged the day by winning their second consecutive game in Chicago, this one a 6-1 win, sending them home from their season-opening road trip 2-4.
“Later on in the day, I probably would have guessed it was less likely we were going to play, but I’m glad we did and I’m glad our guys continued to be ready for when the bell rang,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.
The win came on the backs of Pablo López, who threw seven innings of one-run ball, Byron Buxton, who had a pair of extra-base hits, including his first home run of the season, and Harrison Bader, who hit his team-leading third blast of the year.
López, who endured a lengthy rain delay before his first start of the season as well, was sharp from the get-go on Wednesday. He allowed just four hits, and got some good defense behind him, including a diving catch from Buxton in center for the first out in the bottom of the first and a basket catch on the run from shortstop Carlos Correa.
“These guys are out there willing to just lay out and do and do all things for me and so it’s just a nice little reminder,” López said. “I have seven amazing players behind me that play that kind of defense. I wanted to be in the zone, so that play was a good reminder of just ‘Challenge people.’”
It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the White Sox broke through with second baseman Brooks Baldwin launching a solo home run. But by that point, the Twins had a large lead well in hand.
In the first inning, Buxton crushed a breaking ball left over the plate, sending it 446 feet out to left-center field. The Twins pushed the game out of reach a few innings later in the fourth when Bader, for the second consecutive day, hit a three-run home run, depositing a pitch into the left-field bullpen.
“Crushing it, crushing it,” Baldelli said of Bader. “He’s catching some balls out front really flush and it’s a great way to start the season for him.”
And in the fifth, Carlos Correa Correa started a really with a double. In addition to making a nice defensive play, Correa finally collected his first — and second — hit of the season. Correa was 0 for 18 before watching a ball roll through the infield and into right, raising his hands to the sky as he saw the ball reach the right field.
Correa came around to score on a Buxton double — his second extra-base hit of the day — and Buxton scored the Twins’ final run on a Ty France hit.
“I didn’t want to play but after getting two hits, I sure regret not wanting to play,” Correa said. “And we got the win and a lot of guys performed great. And Pablo was nasty. It was just great we got it in.”
