Minnesota Twins collapse lets White Sox end historic 205-game streak

One of baseball's ugliest streaks came to an end Wednesday night as the floundering Minnesota Twins allowed the Chicago White Sox to rally for a 4-3 win with three runs in the ninth inning.

The White Sox had lost 205 consecutive games when trailing after eight innings, including 72 this season alone. But when trailing 3-1 in the ninth inning Wednesday night at Target Field in Minneapolis, they scored three times, all with two outs in the ninth, off Twins relievers Kody Funderburk and Justin Topa.

Funderburk got Colson Montgomery to pop out to start the inning but then gave up a single and a walk before Topa replaced him. Topa struck out the first batter he faced, so the Sox were down to their final out and the tying run was at the plate.

Brooks Baldwin's run-scoring single made it a 3-2 game, and then former Twins center fielder Michael A. Taylor ripped a two-out, two-run double to give Chicago the lead.

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Minnesota responded with a double from Byron Buxton and a walk by Trevor Larnach to put two runners on base with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, but Luke Keaschall lined out, James Outman popped out and Ryan Jeffers grounded out to end the game.

The announced attendance (tickets sold) was 11,904, marking the second consecutive sub-12,000 paid total for the Twins. On Tuesday, a similarly small crowd set a September paid attendance record low at Target Field. Of course, the paid total is larger than the number of fans actuallly at the ballpark, which was obvious from our Will Ragatz's view from behind home plate.