Andrew Benintendi supplies all the offense for White Sox in 3-2 win over Twins, extending division lead

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Aug 29, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox had three hits Saturday — all by Andrew Benintendi.

That turned out to be just enough to defeat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 in front of 28,310 at Target Field.

Benintendi went 3 for 4, with a tiebreaking solo home run in the sixth inning, as the Sox (72-63) won their fourth straight and improved to a season-high nine games over .500.

“I feel like I’m seeing it pretty well,” Benintendi said.

The first-place Sox continued to distance themselves from the competition in the American League Central. They lead the second-place Cleveland Guardians (68-68) by 4 1/2 games and third-place Twins (64-72) by 8 1/2.

Benintendi led the way Saturday, coming within a triple of the cycle. He had two RBIs and scored twice.

“He’s been great,” starter Erick Fedde said. “One of the leaders, our veteran. Guy kills it at Target Field, we all know it and I think the Twins probably know it too. But it’s fun to watch. He was great today.”

Benintendi has 14 home runs and 40 RBIs with a .352 batting average (64 for 182) in 46 career games at Target Field.

“I always like hitting here,” Benintendi said. “I don’t know why I see the ball well here, so good place to meet the team again.”

The contributions began early Saturday when he drove in Sam Antonacci with a single in the first inning.

The Twins tied the score when Luke Keaschall scored on Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly to right field in the first inning. They went ahead 2-1 when Kaelen Culpepper scored on a fielder’s choice in the second.

The Sox took advantage of a Culpepper error to even the score in the fourth inning. Benintendi began the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a groundout to second by Braden Montgomery. Colson Montgomery grounded out with the infield in, bringing up Chase Meidroth with two outs.

Culpepper booted his grounder to short, and Benintendi scored.

Benintendi put the Sox ahead with the home run in the sixth, his 14th of the season, on a 1-2 cutter.

“(Twins reliever Andrew Morris) throws really hard with some hard offspeeds,” Benintendi said. “And I think in 0-2, kind of same pitch (a cutter), I was able to foul it off. I feel like I saw it the first time and then was able to scoop it.

“It was a good pitch, to be honest.”

Benintendi has five hits and four RBIs in the first two games of the series.

“He’s been amazing,” manager Will Venable said. “Obviously he likes to hit at Target Field. So great stuff from (Benintendi).”

It’s the first time the Sox have won with one player collecting all of their hits since a 1-0 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 22, 2006. Jim Thome had the only hit for the Sox in that game, a home run in the seventh inning.

“(Benintendi) knows what he’s doing up there, and he has a plan and he executes it,” Venable said. “That’s what you get with a really good hitter, but also a guy that has experience, he understands what the pitcher on the mound is trying to do to him and he has a solution for it.

“(Benintendi) coming through again, and he’s just a guy that you trust, and it’s nice to see.”

Fedde earned the win, allowing two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings.

“We just started getting a little better pitch mix there later on,” Fedde said. “Me and (catcher Jake Rogers) got on the same page and started mixing a little better and kept the guys off-balanced and did a little better there the last three innings.”

It was the first time any Sox starter went at least five innings since Aug. 21, when Sean Burke pitched six innings against the New York Mets at Rate Field.

“Fedde was great,” Venable said. “Kept us in the ballgame. Thought he just had a really good mix of stuff, working through some traffic there. Kind of what we’ve seen from Fedde, really all along. A good understanding of how to attack guys, and if something doesn’t work, he’s able to get to some other pitches, so a really nice job.”

It was Fedde’s first start since July 31 against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was shifted to the bullpen in August after the Sox acquired Luis Castillo in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.

In six August relief outings, Fedde had a 4.50 ERA — allowing eight earned runs in 16 innings.

His last two appearances — Aug. 18 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and Aug. 23 against the Mets at Rate Field — were both scoreless outings (4 2/3 and 4 innings, respectively) in a bulk capacity that he was a little more accustomed to when the team would begin with an opener.

Fedde provided just what the team needed in terms of length Saturday.

“It’s obviously been kind of a crazy month for me, a lot of ups and downs, pen, starting,” Fedde said. “Starting’s for sure where I’m most comfortable, done it the most in my career. Just trying to put good outings together and give us chances to win when I get the ball. The boys came through today.”

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