Field Level Media
Jul 25, 2020
Leury Garcia homered twice and drove in four runs and Edwin Encarnacion, Eloy Jimenez and James McCann also hit home runs to lead the host Chicago White Sox to a 10-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon.
Dallas Keuchel (1-0) picked up the victory for the White Sox, allowing two runs on three hits over 5 1/3 innings in his club debut. The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner, who signed a three-year, $55 million free agent contract with Chicago in December, held the Twins to just an infield single over the first five innings. He struck out one and didn't walk a batter.
Garcia, homered from both sides of the plate -- the 11th time a player has done that in White Sox history -- and McCann each finished with three hits while Jimenez and Jose Abreu also had two hits for the White Sox, who bounced back from a 10-5 loss to the Twins in their season opener on Friday night.
Nelson Cruz hit a three-run homer and Mitch Garver had two hits and a walk for Minnesota. Starter Randy Dobnak (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up one run on three hits over four innings.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Yoan Moncada lined a two-out double off the bottom of the left-field fence, driving in Tim Anderson who had reached on a fielder's choice.
Garcia then kicked off a three-homer fifth inning for Chicago off right-handed reliever Zack Littell with a 404-foot solo home run to right-center to make it 2-0. Encarnacion increased the lead to 4-0 with his 415th career homer, a long drive over the box seats in left that also drove in Abreu, who had singled. Jimenez then followed with a home run that bounced off the top of the fence in right to make it 5-0.
Cruz's three-run blast off reliever Steve Cishek cut it to 5-3 in the top of the sixth but McCann answered with a solo home run in the bottom half. McCann added an RBI single in the seventh and Garcia followed with a three-run homer down the left-field line off left-hander Devin Smeltzer.
--Field Level Media