It's been a good stretch of baseball for the Minnesota Twins, and it has manager Derek Shelton feeling good about where his club sits as they hit the summer months just a game under .500.
And don't look now, but they're just 4-games out of first in the AL Central.
Brooks Lee hit a bases-loaded double in the 11th inning and the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Tuesday night. The Twins improved to 4-1 on their 10-game road trip and have won seven of nine overall.
Twins manager Derek Shelton says Lee has just been a solid player this season - and that is a high compliment.
"He just continues to have really big moments for us," says Shelton. "And last night got down 0-2, big hit, he's just been solid. And I mean that in such a really respectful and good way. Like, he's just a good baseball player. He does little things that help you and last night he came up huge in a really big situation."
They had lost seven straight against the White Sox, last winning on Aug. 22, 2025.
Luke Keaschall singled in the 11th and Byron Buxton drew a walk with an ABS challenge to load the bases for Lee. He cleared them on the third pitch he saw and gave Minnesota a 5-2 lead.
Pitcher Joe Ryan seems to have found his groove. He tied a season high with nine strikeouts, allowed five hits and issued no walks in 7 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season. He was working on a shutout until Munetaka Murakami hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Shelton says Ryan has been the All-Star Joe Ryan of last year since his health scare on May 3.
"I really think over his last four or five starts, I think since the Toronto start where he came out and only faced two hitters and we didn't know where he was at health-wise," said Shelton. "And then we got the clean bill of health, and he just keeps getting better as the season progresses. A little bit of that has to do with he had the abbreviated spring training and didn't throw as much. And I think we're starting to see like the Joe Ryan that we all know and love. And expect when he goes out that he's going to give us a chance to win every night."
Shelton also says series like this one against the White Sox are key to the overall season success, especially now that they don't play division opponents as often anymore with a balanced MLB schedule.
"We don't play teams in our division 19 times, and it seems a little strange that today's May 27th and two days ago was the first time we had played the White Sox in our division," he told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News. "And then we play them seven of 10 games. So the division games are very important, and I think they carry even more importance now that the fact that we don't play teams in our division. And the fact that our division, to start the season, has been a little different than I think a lot of people expected."
Up next
Minnesota Twins (27-28, third in the AL Central) vs. Chicago White Sox (27-27, second in the AL Central)
Chicago; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. Pregame 6:00 p.m. on 830 WCCO and the Audacy App (in-market only)
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Connor Prielipp (1-2, 4.03 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 30 strikeouts); White Sox: Davis Martin (7-1, 2.04 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 66 strikeouts)
LINE: White Sox -124, Twins +104; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Chicago White Sox square off against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.
Chicago has gone 15-11 at home and 27-27 overall. The White Sox have hit 73 total home runs to rank second in the AL.
Minnesota is 27-28 overall and 12-14 on the road. The Twins are 19-6 in games when they scored five or more runs.
The teams play Wednesday for the third time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Munetaka Murakami has three doubles, 19 home runs and 39 RBIs while hitting .234 for the White Sox. Chase Meidroth is 9 for 38 with a home run over the past 10 games.
Byron Buxton leads the Twins with 16 home runs while slugging .567. Brooks Lee is 10 for 39 with three doubles, a triple, a home run and six RBIs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: White Sox: 5-5, .220 batting average, 4.85 ERA, outscored by four runs
Twins: 7-3, .248 batting average, 2.77 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
INJURIES: White Sox: Noah Schultz: 15-Day IL (knee), Ky Bush: 60-Day IL (elbow), Austin Hays: 10-Day IL (calf), Jordan Hicks: 15-Day IL (lat), Everson Pereira: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Kyle Teel: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Drew Thorpe: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tanner Murray: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Brooks Baldwin: 60-Day IL (elbow), Mike Vasil: 60-Day IL (elbow), Prelander Berroa: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Twins: Cody Laweryson: 15-Day IL (forearm), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Garrett Acton: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Jeffers: 10-Day IL (hand), Cole Sands: 15-Day IL (forearm), Mick Abel: 15-Day IL (elbow), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)
