Twins' Castro hits birthday homer, lifts Minnesota to 6

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Willi Castro hit a 3-run home run on his 27th birthday and Joe Ryan pitched six innings for his first win of the year as the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 Wednesday.

Castro’s homer capped a four-run second inning against Chicago left-hander Garrett Crochet. It was his second career home run on his birthday and it drove in Austin Martin and Christian Vásquez.

Ryan (1-1) had a pair of three-strikeout innings, but also allowed solo homers in the third to Kevin Pillar and Korey Lee. The Twins righty struck out seven and gave up three runs to win for the first time in five starts.

Minnesota, which had a season-high 13 hits, has won the first three games of the four-game series against the White Sox, who hold the worst record in the majors at 3-21.

Crochet (1-4) surrendered five runs on seven hits in four innings. He’s lost his last three outings.