The Minnesota Twins scored a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, extending the franchise’s longest winning streak since 2008 to nine games. On Wednesday, the Twins successfully pushed their winning streak to double digits.
In Tuesday’s game, the White Sox jumped to a 2-0 lead, then retook the lead at 4-2 after the Twins tied the game in the fifth. Minnesota then rallied for a 5-4 lead with a two-run eighth before Andrew Benintendi tied the game for the White Sox with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning.
Then the Twins put runners on the corners in the top of the ninth, and a Max Kepler sacrifice fly scored Byron Buxton from third to put the Twins up for good 6-5.
The Twins ran it back successfully on Wednesday, too. They cruised to a 10-5 win over the White Sox after racking up four runs in the ninth to seal the deal. Both Jose Miranda and Ryan Jeffers hit RBI doubles to kick off the final inning, and Willi Castro hit an RBI single to extend their lead to five.
The wins extend a dramatic turnaround from a 7-13 start that now has Minnesota at 17-13 and 2.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians. The winning streak is their longest since they won 10 straight in 2008, which they matched Wednesday.
The winning streak has also coincided with a new tradition in the Minnesota dugout. Summer sausage has become a staple in the dugout this spring and a subject of burgeoning baseball lore. Hitting coach David Popkins brought a sausage to the dugout for the start of another series against the White Sox last week.
The Twins swept that four-game series to start their winning streak, and batters have been tapping the sausage — which remains packaged — for good luck ever since. Here it is in action last week.
With the winning streak alive and well, don’t expect the sausage’s reign to end anytime soon.
