After snapping a 10-game losing streak, the White Sox have now won three in a row. Their last came against the Twins on Wednesday. Right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton closed out the 6-4 win with a strikeout from Carlos Correa and, well, he was pretty excited afterwards.
Look:
It seems there was a reason for that, aside from a save in an MLB win.
“I knew I was going to be up against Correa, and I don’t like him. So it was pretty cool,” Middleton said via the Associated Press. ‘I like that. I enjoyed that very much. …I mean, he’s a cheater.’
Correa, of course, was the Astros shortstop and cleanup hitter on the 2017 Astros, who will forever be linked to the sign-stealing scandal revealed in the offseason between the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Correa remained with the Astros through with the 2021 World Series and has since signed two free contracts with the Twins.
Middleton, 29, conceived the Angels in 2017 and was with the club through 2020. He was then with the Mariners in 2021, so he spent an awful lot of time in the AL West against those incredibly successful Astros teams. Interestingly enough, he had a lot of success as a rookie against the Astros in 2017, pitching to a 1.13 ERA with nine strikeouts in eight innings. However, he was overthrown by them a few times later.
Before striking out to end the game on Wednesday, Correa had gone 2 for 3 with two doubles against Middleton.
Middleton is having a good season so far, recording a 2.89 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings.
Correa got off to a slow start, batting .206/.287/.363 (82 OPS+) with 25 strikeouts in 102 at bats.
The Twins are tied for first in the AL Central, 17-14, while the White Sox are tied for fourth, 10-21, seven games back.