Twins' Castro hits birthday homer, lifts Minnesota to 6-3 win over White Sox
Willi Castro hit a 3-run home run on his 27th birthday and Joe Ryan pitched six innings for his first win of the year as the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 Wednesday.
Castro's homer capped a four-run second inning against Chicago left-hander Garrett Crochet. It was his second career home run on his birthday and it drove in Austin Martin and Christian Vásquez.
"It's the best birthday I've had so far," Castro said.
Castro entered the game batting .169 with one homer and four RBI as one of several Twins' hitters struggling at the plate in the first month of the season. He also added a double off Crochet in the fourth for his second multi-hit game of the year.
Ryan (1-1) had a pair of three-strikeout innings, but also allowed solo homers in the third to Kevin Pillar and Korey Lee. The Twins righty struck out eight and gave up three runs to win for the first time in five starts.
Following the two homers, Ryan responded by striking out three batters — all swinging — in a scoreless fourth. He also pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning to end his night.
"He just kept pitching today," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I thought it was a very solid outing for Joe. He did his normal missing bats and not really walking (guys). ... That's great stuff. That's exactly what we're looking for."
Minnesota, which had a season-high 13 hits, has won the first three games of the four-game series against the White Sox, who hold the worst record in the majors at 3-21.
Crochet (1-4) surrendered five runs on seven hits in four innings. He's lost his last three outings.
"His stuff was working, it was effective. They had a good plan going into the game," Lee said of Crochet. "He's been doing well all year and I think they obviously did their homework on him. We do our homework on them, and they put the bat on the ball. When you put the bat on the ball, good things happen in this game."
Chicago executed a double steal in the fifth to cut Minnesota's lead to 4-3. Lee beat a throw from Twins catcher Carlos Santana to steal second base, allowing Braden Shewmake to score from third base.
The Twins added two runs in the bottom of the inning. Pinch hitter Max Kepler's bloop to shallow center drove in Manny Margo, and Kepler later scored on a wild pitch. Kepler has driven in a run in each of his three games since returning from the injured list.
Griffin Jax pitched a scoreless inning for his third save of the year.
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Chicago right-hander Michael Soroka (0-3, 7.50 ERA) is looking for his first win of the year after allowing five runs in each of his last two starts. The Twins announced after Wednesday's game that Simeon Woods Richardson (1-0, 1.69) will be recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to start Thursday's series finale. Bailey Ober's start will be pushed back to Friday in Anaheim.