Twins hold off White Sox for 6-4 win after Ryan Jeffers homer

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Sep 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Ryan Jeffers knows the stakes involved with each game this month, the importance of every at-bat for the Minnesota Twins and himself.

Jeffers bashed a go-ahead, three-run homer in the fifth inning Saturday, leading the Twins to a 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. It was Jeffers’ fourth homer in the last five games, pointing his bat at teammates in the dugout before dropping it lightly to begin his latest home run trot.

The Twins are clinging to their long shot playoff hopes, needing an epic finish to surpass the four teams ahead of them in the American League wild-card race. They’re 3 1/2 games out of a playoff spot after the Cleveland Guardians lost to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday with 20 games to play.

An additional component for Jeffers is that he will reach free agency at the end of the season. He’s up to 14 homers and 53 RBI in 78 games following his 416-foot blast against White Sox left-hander Anthony Kay.

The Twins rallied from an early three-run deficit Saturday. Kaelen Culpepper gave the Twins their first hit in the fourth inning, and he scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball before Brooks Lee hit an RBI double.

In the fifth inning, Ryan Kreidler was plunked by a pitch and Luke Keaschall hit a single before Jeffers gave the Twins their first lead in 25 innings. Culpepper, moved up to second in the Twins’ batting order, hit an RBI double to end an eight-pitch at-bat against White Sox reliever Sean Newcomb in the seventh inning.

The White Sox took a three-run lead in the first inning with two homers against Twins starter Taj Bradley. Munetaka Murakami lifted a two-strike splitter over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, his 30th home run of the season, and Colson Montgomery followed with a two-out, two-strike homer that he rocked into the first row of right-field seats.

Murakami, Montgomery and Miguel Vargas became the first trio of White Sox teammates to hit 30 homers in a season since 2008 (Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome).

After Montgomery’s homer, Bradley retired his next 10 batters before giving up two hits in the fifth inning, including a two-out RBI single to Vargas.

Four Twins relievers — Kody Funderburk, Jeff Hoffman, A.J. Minter and Yoendrys Gómez — combined to pitch four scoreless innings.

____