Tristan Gray grand slam helps end losing streak, powers Twins to 9-6 victory over White Sox

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Tristan Gray put a pair of balls in play during the middle innings Monday, and they both were impressive for different reasons.

Gray smacked a grand slam in the fourth inning, then hit a sacrifice fly to the third baseman as part of a five-run fifth inning as the Twins ended their five-game losing streak with a 9-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Target Field.

It was just the Twins’ second victory in their past 11 games against Chicago.

With concerns about the Twins rotation after injuries piled up, Joe Ryan gave up four runs across six innings, and the offense scored four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.

The Twins had runners on second and third with no outs in the fourth inning against White Sox right-hander David Sandlin, who made his major league debut against the Twins last week and retired his final 18 batters.

It quickly turned into two outs after a comebacker to the mound, and another ground ball led to Josh Bell being thrown out at the plate. Sandlin issued a two-out walk to Luke Keaschall before Gray deposited a curveball into the right-field seats for his second career grand slam. Gray also hit a grand slam during the Twins’ home opener on April 3.

Give Gray credit for making his hits count this season: He’s totaled 23 hits and 23 RBIs.

The Twins loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning, via a single and two walks, knocking Sandlin out of the game. Austin Martin hit an RBI single off reliever Tyler Davis, ending a 0-for-18 slump, and Victor Caratini made it five consecutive batters to reach base with an RBI single to left field.

After Keaschall drove a sacrifice fly to right field for the first out, Gray had a more unconventional sacrifice fly. Gray hit a pop-up in foul territory, in shallow left field. White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas made a running catch with his back to infield, and Martin took off running for the plate.

Vargas made a strong one-hop throw, but Martin beat catcher Edgar Quero’s tag with a headfirst slide to punctuate a five-run inning.

Ryan (4-3) struck out nine batters for his third consecutive start. After Gray’s grand slam gave the Twins a 5-1 lead, Ryan nearly gave it back. He gave up a two-run homer to Vargas on a slider that caught too much of the plate, and Andrew Benintendi made it back-to-back homers when he lofted a fastball over the wall in left-center field.

Vargas added a two-run homer off Travis Adams in the ninth inning, his second of the game and 15th of the season.

The Twins never trailed Monday against a White Sox team that entered on a five-game winning streak. Trevor Larnach poked a two-out RBI single to center in the first inning, and the White Sox tied the score on a two-out RBI single from Benintendi in the third.

It might not have been Ryan’s cleanest start, giving up eight hits and four runs in six innings, but Twins starting pitchers have delivered only three starts lasting six innings in their past 11 games, and Ryan is responsible for two of them.