CHICAGO—Nelson Cruz hit a sixth-inning homer and drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 3-2 victory over the host Chicago White Sox in the first game of a doubleheader on Monday.
Minnesota's Jorge Polanco added an RBI single in the top of the eighth. Chicago's Jose Abreu responded with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning, but he was stranded at second base.
Luis Arraez, Ryan Jeffers and Polanco each had two hits for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-10 against the White Sox this season.
Tyler Duffey (2-2) picked up the victory with a scoreless inning of relief. Hansel Robles earned his 10th save despite allowing an unearned run in the eighth.
Chicago's Tim Anderson homered for the third consecutive game and extended his hitting streak 16 games, setting a career high. Garrett Crochet (2-5) took the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) on one hit in one-third of an inning.
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Anderson's ninth home run of the season, a 417-foot drive to right-center.
Minnesota tied it in the sixth when Cruz lined his 19th homer of the season into the bleachers in left. It was the 436th home run of Cruz's career, breaking a tie with Carlos Beltran for 46th place on the all-time list. Andre Dawson is 45th with 438 homers.
Cruz has 15 home runs and 40 RBIs against the White Sox over the past three seasons.
The Twins then took a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth. Arraez led off with a single to send Gilberto Celestino, pinch-running for designated runner Jeffers, to third. Josh Donaldson then loaded the bases with a fielders' choice when third baseman Jake Burger fielded his slow roller and tried unsuccessfully to tag Celestino straying off third base.
After Trevor Larnach struck out, Cruz drove in Celestino with a sacrifice fly to center off reliever Ryan Burr. Polanco followed with a single to right to drive in Arraez.
Chicago cut it to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on Abreu's one-out ground-rule double to left-center, driving in Anderson, who began the inning at second as the designated runner. Robles bounced back to strike out pinch hitter Gavin Sheets and get Adam Engel to fly out to shallow left.
