Which team has the most pressure this weekend at Target Field?
Is it the White Sox, who are on their second losing streak of ten-plus games this season?
Is it the Twins, who can't afford to lose any more ground to Cleveland in the AL Central, especially with baseball's worst team in town.
Round one went to the Twins, with Royce Lewis hitting a home run and driving in a season-high four run in the 10-2 romp that handed the Pale Hose their 18th striaght loss.
With Cleveland and Kansas City both winning, the Twins sit in third place in the division.
The Guardians are on top, with the Royals six games back and the Twins six-and-a-half off the pace.
Cleveland and KC come to Target Field for a total of seven games starting next Friday.
On the back end of the standings, Chicago had just three hits on Friday and now have the longest losing streak in the majors since Baltimore lost 19 straight in August 2021.
The White Sox have 27 wins, and are 41-and-a-half games out of first place.
Coming into 2024, the Chicago American League franchise had never lost more than 123 in a row.
That happened in 100 seasons ago.
And that mark has been topped twice this season
The White Sox earlier this year lost 14 in a row.
Willi Castro and Byron Buxton homered in a six-run eighth inning when the Twins broke open a close game.
Miguel Vargas went deep for the White Sox.
The White Sox have been outscored 112-39 during their skid and scored three or fewer runs in 13 of 14 games since the All-Star break.
Lewis lined a two-run home run in the first and laced a two-run double to the gap in right center in the third.
“I just got some pitches that I think he left over the middle plate a little more than he wanted to,” Lewis said.
A sparkplug for Minnesota’s offense when healthy, Lewis was 4 for 19 in his previous six games after missing 16 because of a right adductor strain. A right quad strain in the season opener led to 63 games being missed.
He has 12 home runs and 25 RBI in 31 games this season, and he has eight games of at least four RBI in 101 career games.
In the eighth, Christian Vázquez had a two-run double before Castro and Buxton each hit two-run home runs.
Joe Ryan (7-7) allowed three hits and struck out seven across 6 1/3 innings for his first victory in four starts. He has 25 straight starts of at least five innings. That includes all 22 this year, the fourth-longest streak in baseball.
“I think it’s a nice, real step for a Joe Ryan at this point in his career to sit here and say, `We expect him to go out and pitch like that,’” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I wouldn’t say that unless it was the case. It is the case. He’s doing his job and then some right now.”
Ryan struck out the first four Chicago hitters and did not allow a hit until Vargas went deep for his first White Sox home run, a two-run shot in the third. Vargas was acquired from the Dodgers on Monday as part of a three-team trade that included St. Louis.
Making his first start since Oct. 5, 2022, Davis Martin (0-1) allowed four earned runs on six hits and struck out five in 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander had Tommy John surgery in May 2023, and made his season debut with 2 2/3 innings of relief last Saturday.
He was one strike away from getting out of the first inning, but a 3-2 slider to Lewis landed halfway up the left-field seats for a 2-0 Twins lead.
“When you leave something over the middle of the plate he hits it. We wanted to try and do some stuff, but just didn’t execute very well and he capitalized on them,” Martin said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins right fielder Max Kepler did not play two days after striking out but getting hit in the helmet by Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez’s attempted throw to second base. Baldelli said Kepler passed all concussion-protocol tests but needs to go through a full workout.
UP NEXT
Lefthander Garrett Crochet (6-8, 3.23) was scheduled to start for the White Sox on Saturday night against righty Bailey Ober (10-5, 3.76).
It is Joe Mauer Hall of Fame Day at Target Field, and fans will honor the St. Paul native on his first-ballot election to the baseball shrine in Cooperstown, N.Y.