Jeffers' 415-Foot Bomb Flips the Script, Twins Win 6-4

Ryan Jeffers crushed a 415-foot, three-run homer to left in the fifth inning that swung Chicago's win probability from 61% to 29% in a single swing. Minnesota came back from a 3-0 hole to beat the White Sox 6-4 on Saturday.

Chicago looked in control early. Munetaka Murakami got things started in the first with a 346-foot shot to left that scored Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery followed it immediately with a 372-foot homer to right. Just like that, the White Sox were up 3-0 before Minnesota had even recorded an out on offense. Taj Bradley was absorbing the damage on the mound for the Twins, and the night appeared to be trending decisively toward the South Side.

Minnesota chipped away in the fourth. A fielder's choice grounder brought Kaelen Culpepper home to make it 3-1, then a Lee double to left scored Bell and pulled the Twins within one at 3-2. The comeback had legs, but the decisive blow came in the fifth: Jeffers launched a 415-foot home run to left, scoring Keaschall and Culpepper with it, and suddenly Minnesota led 5-3. That one swing moved Chicago's win probability from 61% all the way down to 29% — a 32-point collapse in a single at-bat. The White Sox answered immediately when Vargas singled to left to score Meidroth and trim the deficit to 5-4, but that would be as close as they'd get.

Culpepper added an insurance run in the seventh, doubling to right to score Keaschall and push the lead to 6-4. On the pitching side, Bradley went five innings and allowed all four earned runs on four hits, striking out six. Jeff Hoffman and Kody Funderburk combined for 2.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to close it out. For Chicago, Anthony Kay lasted just 4.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits. The story of the night was Jeffers — his 3 RBI on a single swing did more damage than anything else in this game, and Culpepper's two-run, two-score night gave Minnesota the kind of table-setting production that makes a comeback look easy in hindsight. The Twins appear to have found their answers when it mattered most.