Luis Robert hit a tying homer in the seventh inning and the go-ahead double in the ninth, and the White Sox took the AL Central lead into September by rallying past the skidding Minnesota Twins 8-5 on Monday night.
The White Sox are in sole possession of first place for the first time since April 2, 2018, leading Cleveland (21-14) and Minnesota (20-16). The last time Chicago entered September alone in first place was 2012, the last winning season on the south side. The White Sox have not won the division since 2008.
The afterglow from Giolito's no-hitter faded fast, as the right-hander fell behind 4-0 in his follow-up start, but the White Sox (22-13) surged back to win for the 12th time in 14 games.
Miguel Sano homered and scored three runs for the Twins, who have lost six straight games.
Jose Abreu tied it with a two-run double off Tyler Clippard in the sixth before Jake Cave's RBI single in the bottom of the inning pushed the Twins back in front.
The dynamic Robert responded with his 10th homer, a soaring drive that cleared the juniper wall beyond center field off Trevor May. With Twins closer Taylor Rogers (1-3) in for the ninth, right fielder Max Kepler dropped a lazy fly ball for a devastating one-out error. Robert put the White Sox ahead two batters later. Nomar Mazara tacked on a two-run single.
Matt Foster (4-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. Alex Colome picked up his seventh save.
After a bases-loaded line drive died in front of Luis Arraez and fell out of his glove, the second baseman flipped the ball to shortstop Jorge Polanco on the bag for one out. Polanco threw to first instead of home, where another out could have been recorded. Adam Engel then ripped a two-run single to cut Minnesota's lead in half.
The Twins reached a third straight day in third place, their longest consecutive stay there since July 2-4, 2018. The defending division champions dropped to third on Saturday, the lowest they'd fallen since April 10, 2019.
Yoan Moncada missed a second straight game with discomfort in the back of his left leg, from running the bases on Saturday. 2B/3B Yolmer Sanchez was added to the roster, returning to his original club. The 2019 Gold Glove winner was recently released by San Francisco.
Dallas Keuchel (5-2, 2.70 ERA) takes the mound for the middle game of the series. He has allowed two runs or fewer in six of his seven turns and just three in the other one.
Michael Pineda will come off the restricted list to pitch Tuesday for the first time in 361 days, his 60-game suspension for testing positive for a banned diuretic finally finished. The right-hander went 11-5 with a 4.01 ERA in 26 starts last season.
