A douse party after Trayce’s blastoff
The White Sox haven’t had much to celebrate this season, so they did it up right after Trayce Thompson homered against
Addison Reed with two outs in the ninth inning for a 6- 5 victory against the Twins, halting a fourgame losing streak Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Thompson got the customary bucket of Gatorade poured over him at home plate. And for good measure, teammate Yolmer
Sanchez poured a bucket over himself.
“I knew someone was going to hit a homer, and I was thinking about doing that at the beginning of the inning,” said Sanchez, the Sox’ clubhouse clown who also drove in two runs. “So I was ready. It was fun.’’
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that in the game,’’ said Thompson, who was hitless with two strikeouts in three at- bats before the game- winner and is hitting .140. “And I wouldn’t expect it to come from anybody else. It was really funny.”
Thompson has five hits for the Sox, three of them homers. This was his third walk- off; the first two came with the Dodgers in 2016. The homer, on a 3- 1 pitch, carried 403 feet.
Right- hander Reynaldo Lopez pitched without his best fastball and slider and got through 6‰ innings without a strikeout, holding firm after falling behind 5- 1 in the fourth inning and retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
Lopez induced only two swinging strikes from the 83 pitches he threw and gave up three of the six hits he allowed to Logan Mor
rison, whose homer in the fourth gave the Twins the 5- 1 lead.
The Sox came back against right- hander Jake Odorizzi with Sanchez’s 16th and 17th RBI via a ground- ball out and single, designated hitter Daniel Palka’s second homer and Matt David
son’s double off the wall that led to a run after right fielder Robbie Grossman’s error allowed Jose Abreu to score from first. “You’re going to have bad days,’’ said Lopez, who was also hurt by two passed balls by Omar Narvaez and some soft contact that seemed to frustrate him, prompting a visit from manager Rick Renteria.
“I was feeling good physically and mentally, but I couldn’t find my stuff. You have to learn, and you have to grind through it.”
Moncada doesn’t start
Second baseman Yoan Moncada did not play but was available to pinch- hit a day after exiting the game in St. Louis with a sore hamstring, foot and thumb.
“Moncada is doing fine,’’ Renteria said. “I expect he should be back in there [ Friday].’’
Renteria said Moncada’s hamstring issue “might have been more of a cramp than anything” and that he talked to the team about proper hydration. He gave Moncada a chance to tough it out and stay in the game Wednesday.
“I took him out in the middle of a game, and I told him, ‘ I can’t take you out in the middle of a ballgame and start you the next day. Come on, not a good idea,’ ’’ Renteria said.
Castillo scratched
Catcher Welington Castillo was scratched from the lineup before the game with lower abdominal pain and replaced by Narvaez.
Renteria said after the game that the pain stemmed from taking a pitch off the groin and that he’s day- to- day.
Broadcast news
Tom Paciorek is filling in as the TV analyst during the series, which means a reunion of the Ken Harrelson and Paciorek tandem Sunday.
Harrelson is working home Sundays in his final season.