MINNEAPOLIS — It's difficult to know whether the Twins have straightened themselves out after four difficult weeks of ugly baseball or whether the White Sox are just their favorite pushovers. Either way, they have plenty of reasons to be grateful.

The Twins piled up a season-high 13 hits Wednesday night, put runners on base in every inning but one and beat Chicago for the 10th time in their last 11 meetings, 6-3 at Target Field.

The White Sox are now 3-21 on the season, tying them with the 2003 Tigers and 2022 Reds for the second-worst 24-game start in major league history, behind only the 1-23 Orioles of 1988.

Willi Castro became the 22nd Twins player ever to hit a home run on his birthday, turning 27 with a three-run shot into the left-field bleachers. He later doubled, part of the Twins' five extra-base hits on the night, giving them 16 for the first three games of the series.

The series wraps up Thursday afternoon, though the Twins undoubtedly would like to convince the White Sox to stick around for the weekend, too.

Joe Ryan was the recipient of all this offensive support. Staked to a four-run lead after Castro's homer, the right-hander gave half of it back with a nagging irritant: home runs. White Sox outfielder Kevin Pillar launched one 379 feet to left field to lead off the third inning, and catcher Korey Lee followed later in the inning with a 422-foot blast into the upper deck in left-center.

Ryan gave up another run in the fifth inning as part of a relatively rare play: a steal of home. Braden Shewmake bunted his way on against a shifted-to-the-middle Twins defense, and he moved to second base when Lee walked, then stole third as Danny Mendick batted. When the count reached 3-2, Lee took off for second base as Mendick looked at strike three from Ryan.

Catcher Christian Vázquez threw to second base, hoping to complete an inning-ending double play. But Lee beat the throw, and Shewmake took the opportunity to race home with Chicago's third run.

It was the first steal of home the Twins have allowed since last July 22, when then-White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson scored on a similar throw-to-second decision by Vázquez.

Overall, however, it was an encouraging performance by Ryan, who struck out eight, walked only one and was credited with his first win of the year.

And the ever-generous White Sox gave up a base-running run themselves, too. After Manny Margot doubled in the fifth inning and Max Kepler singled him home for his third straight game with an RBI, Vázquez singled, too, one of his three hits.

With Kyle Farmer at the plate, White Sox reliever Deivi Garcia threw a pitch that bounced in front of the batter's box and to the backstop, allowing Kepler to jog home.

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