CHICAGO — Ryan Jeffers led off the seventh inning of a tie game Wednesday with a line-drive single, and Max Kepler followed by beating out an infield hit. Jorge Polanco dribbled a pitch that righthander Gregory Santos fielded quickly before slipping on the grass, allowing Polanco to reach first.
And, with Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton coming up, the White Sox had the Twins right where they wanted them.
With its infielders drawn in, Chicago forced runners out at the plate when Correa and Buxton each failed to get the ball out of the infield. And when Santos struck out Trevor Larnach, one of the Twins' most persistent and inexplicable weaknesses — their lack of clutch hits with the bases loaded — had doomed them again, this time to a 6-4 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"Didn't get the job done, so it's definitely a letdown," a clearly annoyed Buxton said. "But those are the chances we want, especially [with Correa and himself] coming up in that situation. And we just didn't the job done, simple as that."
Even more irritating was the way the White Sox, who won for only the 10th time all year, took advantage of their chances — including once with the bases loaded. And immediately after the Twins missed their big chance, Chicago pounced, with four consecutive hitters reaching base against Griffin Jax and Eloy Jiménez lining a run-scoring single to provide the go-ahead run.
"That's kind of been the story of my season — soft singles that end up scoring," Jax said after dropping to 1-3 on the year. "People keep saying things will even out. I'm just waiting for that to happen."
So are the Twins, especially with the bases loaded. After all, Correa and Buxton both doubled home runs in the Twins' third-inning rally, and Nick Gordon, who hadn't driven in a run until Sunday, homered for a second straight night to give Minnesota a brief lead in the fourth. All of which probably made their 0-for-3 with the bases loaded in the seventh hurt even more.
The Twins are now 3-for-24 with the bases loaded this season, a .125 average that ranks dead last in the majors. With the other 29 teams combining to hit .295 in those situations, and averaging roughly one run driven in per at-bat, the Twins' 11 total runs driven in stand out even more.