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CHICAGO – Nelson Cruz doesn’t appear to want to leave the Central American League.
The 41-year-old designated hitter is one of the Twins’ most likely candidates to be moved to the next trade deadline of July 30, but seeing as he’s still wearing a Minnesota uniform, he continued his dominance anyway. of the division Monday afternoon. against the White Sox. First there was a solo equalizer homer in the sixth inning, which sent the game to the extras, in which Cruz lifted a sacrificial volley down the center as the Twins won, 3-2, in eight frames. in the first half of a double header at the guaranteed rate field.
The Twins charged up the goals in the eighth, with automatic runner Gilberto Celestino moving to third on Luis Arraez’s first single before inducing a failed outfielder attempt on a Josh Donaldson ground ball, setting up the fly bag. de Cruz and the RBI single from Jorge Polanco who improved the Twins’ record to 6-9 in extra innings this season.
Cruz’s 375-foot blast over Lance Lynn’s left-field wall in the sixth marked his 15th against the White Sox since joining the Twins ahead of the 2019 season, one short of his mark against Kansas City during this period. He entered the game with a slugging percentage of 0.664 and 1.074 OPS against AL Central since becoming a Twin and managed a 12-game drought, tying his longest of the season.
While Cruz might not be around to see the Twins continue to test their young pitchers in the months to come, his explosion came in favor of efficient rookie right-hander Griffin Jax, who had the best outing of his young career in allowing a hit – – a solo homer by Tim Anderson – in four innings against the Sox in first place. He was taken out shortly after manager Rocco Baldelli and head coach Michael Salazar came to the mound after the fourth inning to examine a blister on Jax’s pitcher’s hand.
“It wasn’t so much a physical worry as it was a mental one,” Jax said. “I was just worried if I continued to go out with the blister that I wouldn’t be able to throw my shots with as much intent or aggression as I did at the start of the game.”
Armed with increased use of his slider and a more induced vertical break from his fastball, a point of emphasis he attacked in spring training, the 26-year-old generated 16 swing strikes with his 68 throws, the third highest puff total in the first four frames of a game by any Twins pitcher in the Statcast era (since 2015).
“A big part of it is just taking every opportunity I can get and proving not just to myself but to the coaching staff and the front office that I belong here and can help this team to. winning baseball games, ”Jax said. .
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