MINNEAPOLIS -- What¡¯s the best way to get over a costly run-scoring defensive mistake in the field?

A three-run home run would be a good answer. That plan clearly worked for White Sox third baseman Hanser Alberto during his team¡¯s 4-3 victory over the Twins in Monday afternoon¡¯s series opener at Target Field.

Alberto committed a two-out error on Nick Gordon¡¯s hard-hit grounder in the bottom of the third, allowing Minnesota (6-4) to score its first run of the game off Dylan Cease. But after Yasmani Grandal¡¯s single off Kenta Maeda tied the game in the top of the fourth, Alberto connected on an 0-1 hanging slider for his first homer as a member of the White Sox (5-6).

The homer propelled Chicago to its first 2023 victory within the American League Central; this game was one of only three games it will play against the division in April.

¡°That¡¯s the least thing you can do. If you¡¯re out there, you want to help,¡± Alberto said of the homer after the fielding miscue. ¡°You go out there and try to make all the plays to help the pitcher, help the team.

¡°When you don¡¯t do it, you feel bad. So I was angry. But I controlled myself because you can¡¯t take the defense to the offense. You¡¯ve got to separate, and I think I did a really good job.¡±

The White Sox entered Monday with just four errors as a team in 10 games and were praised for their defense pregame by manager Pedro Grifol. But in fairness to Alberto, the game was a fairly rough defensive effort all around.

Cease admitted to not being at his sharpest, but the plays not made behind him produced 19 extra pitches and had the ace right-hander departing after five innings, six strikeouts and 99 pitches. Elvis Andrus committed a fielding error that prevented Cease from a perfect fifth, and Matt Wallner¡¯s grounder went through first baseman Gavin Sheets¡¯ legs that same inning, allowing Gordon to score from first.

The throw from right fielder Oscar Colas appeared to have a chance to nail Gordon at the plate but instead was cut off by Sheets. Cease worked out of further trouble by striking out Willi Castro.

¡°It¡¯s just part of baseball,¡± Cease said. ¡°There were just as many plays made behind me that saved me as there are that hurt me. At the end of the day, I¡¯m just focused on executing.¡±

¡°We¡¯ve played good defense all year long, and we¡¯ll continue to do that,¡± Grifol said. ¡°Just one of those games where we had a few mistakes, but our pitching picked us up, Alberto picked himself up. It was a great team win.¡±

A strong defensive play from Romy Gonz¨¢lez bailed out the White Sox in the eighth. Gonz¨¢lez, who entered at second base for Tim Anderson in the bottom of the sixth inning with Andrus moving to shortstop, ranged far to his left to glove a Christian V¨¢zquez grounder on a hit-and-run attempt and threw out the catcher at first.

Castro easily made it to third on the play and if the ball had gotten away from Gonz¨¢lez, he might have scored the tying run. Instead, the White Sox picked up a second out and Reynaldo López?fanned Michael A. Taylor as part of his four-out save featuring three strikeouts.

Anderson exited with left knee soreness sustained while he was covering on a play at third in the fourth, while Yoán Moncada didn¡¯t start at third base and was getting evaluated during the game due to back soreness that had bothered him for a little while. The White Sox overcame those injuries and some temporary defensive miscues to even their record at 2-2 on the road trip, sparked by Alberto¡¯s blast.

¡°He¡¯s been around for a long time, and there¡¯s a reason, right?¡± Grifol said. ¡°He¡¯s a good teammate, and he¡¯s great to have in the clubhouse and so on and so forth, but there¡¯s no free passes here. You have to be able to do something special, something that¡¯s going to make you stay in the big leagues, and he does.

¡°He plays the game hard. He¡¯s a great teammate. He seems to come up big in big situations, and he¡¯s always ready to play. He can sit for a week and give you this type of performance or play a couple of days in a row and give you this type of performance.¡±