Eloy's 2 HRs, Giolito's two-hit gem key win

On the night of Luis Robert’s long-awaited reappearance in White Sox threads, it was another recent returnee, Eloy Jiménez, who swung his way into the spotlight.

After homering twice on Sunday night, Jiménez did it again Monday in an 11-1 win over the Twins at Target Field. He became the first player in franchise history to have two home runs and five RBIs on consecutive days, and he also became the fastest White Sox hitter to reach 50 homers (187 games).

What makes Monday’s feat even more impressive is that it took Jiménez just two innings to send two balls out of the yard. His first-inning homer was a moonshot, soaring over the grassy batter’s eye to a projected distance of 454 feet. In the second, Jiménez whacked an above-zone fastball quickly into the seats in left.

“That was [a] reaction, I’m not gonna lie to you guys,” Jiménez said, referring to his second home run. “I wasn’t looking for that pitch. I just [saw] it and hit it.”

Chicago starter Lucas Giolito demanded his share of attention, too, spinning a dazzling eight innings of one-run, two-hit ball with eight strikeouts. He faced the minimum through seven innings, and worked through eight innings against the Twins for the second time this season.

“He has excellent stuff,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Giolito. “He’s got real swing-and-miss stuff. Tonight was one of the nights where I think his command matched his stuff, and he was just exceptionally difficult on us.”

When Giolito wasn’t busy making things difficult for the Twins, he was enjoying the show Jiménez put on alongside his coaches and teammates.

Jiménez’s raw power is one thing, but the bubbliness with which he plays baseball provides even more value to the White Sox clubhouse.

“Now he’s doing what he does,” Giolito said. “He’s one of the best hitters in the league, just going on a tear with the homers. The energy he brings to our team, it’s so great to have him back. I’d like to say I’m surprised by what he’s doing, but I’m not. Because he’s really good.”

White Sox manager Tony La Russa, once a teammate of Reggie Jackson, recalled the Hall of Famer’s claim that you’re not really a home run hitter unless you can hit a home run to all fields. After Jiménez crushed opposite-field homers to right in batting practice, he followed up with one apiece to center and left when the game began.

“He plays the whole field -- left, center, right -- and that [makes] his potential production enormous,” La Russa said.

Other Chicago hitters wielded their fair share of pop, too, including Tim Anderson. He homered in the first at-bat of the game, after doing the same thing Sunday night against the Cubs. The White Sox have been on a first-inning homer craze the past two days, with five home runs combined in the opening frame. They had just three first-inning homers over their previous 55 games.

Robert, playing for the first time since suffering a right hip flexor tear on May 2, chipped in with a single and an RBI double. He misread a sinking line drive in the second, but the reigning Gold Glove winner recalibrated in time to make a lunging grab.

• 'We're all fired up': Robert makes his return

Finally, in game No. 113 of the season, the White Sox enjoyed Robert and Jiménez in the lineup together for the first time. Jiménez, who ruptured his left pectoral tendon in Spring Training, debuted on July 26 and is looking like his Silver Slugger self from a year ago. He’s 9-for-18 with four doubles and four homers in his past five games.

Jiménez may have stolen the show in Robert’s return, but there’s plenty of season left for both players to fill the highlight reel. And most importantly, the presence of both young stars is fantastic news for the White Sox that was well worth the wait.

“We tried very hard for [three] months not to think about how we missed [Robert],” La Russa said, “but getting both those guys back has been some kind of a reminder of what they can do to help us.”