CHICAGO — Baseball is throwing every challenge it can at Brooks Lee this week, and he keeps handling it with aplomb.Days after he was moved off shortstop to third base, and only two innings after his tumbling slide into second base resulted in an interference call and a double play Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins player again coolly responded to adversity.Lee’s bases-loaded, three-run double broke open a tie game in the 11th inning as the Twins bounced back from a late blown lead to top the Chicago White Sox 5-3 at Rate Field. Lee finished 2-for-5, and the Twins won for the fourth time in five games on their three-city road trip to improve to 27-28.“It’s crucial to win one-run ballgames early in the year, games that are extra innings or tied late,” Lee said. “They punched back in the eighth inning. That’s all right. We’re just (going to) continue to do our job. Some stuff’s out of our control. But it seems like we did a great job all the way around, and then we created the opportunity a few times and cashed in.”On the list of potentially deflating moments late in Tuesday’s game, Lee’s costly slide past second base in the ninth inning barely registered a blip.Though it sapped a potential game-winning rally, the play didn’t cause similar chaos to Munetaka Murakami’s tying, eighth-inning, two-run homer off Joe Ryan, or when Kody Clemens was easily thrown out at home plate to end the 10th inning.Sandwiched in between, Lee’s tumble past second base resulting in an interference call by replay officials, and an automatic double play, was relatively easy to forget for everyone but Lee.As he headed for the dugout, Lee hoped he’d have a chance to redeem himself.“I was too juiced up,” Lee said. “I didn’t want that to affect me. … My mindset was that if I get up again, I’ve got to be 100 percent committed to what I’m doing or else someone else is going to pick me up.”Lee showed his dedication in the 11th inning.Batting with one out and the bases loaded, Lee looked for and fouled back two straight fastballs from White Sox reliever Tyler Davis. When Davis’ 0-2 splitter caught too much of the zone, Lee ripped it to the wall in right to give the Twins a three-run lead.Two days earlier, Lee’s two-run, sixth-inning single proved the difference in a 6-5 road win against the Boston Red Sox. Hitting .259/.315/.416, Lee leads the Twins with 30 RBIs.All four of the Twins’ wins on the road trip are by two runs or fewer.“We don’t have any that are good for my heart,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “The resiliency of this club and the fact that they play 27 outs, or 33 outs, really proud of them. … It’s a good win for us.”The Twins saw it potentially as a good move for them with Lee at third base instead of shortstop. After demoting Royce Lewis to Triple-A St. Paul last week, the Twins recognized an opportunity to improve their infield defense for a team Sports Info Solutions ranks as tied for No. 27 in the majors with minus-15 Defensive Runs Saved.Starting Friday in Boston, the Twins asked Lee, who in spite of recent improvement still rates worst among all major-league shortstops with minus-8 DRS, to switch positions.“We talked about what was best for our club right now,” Shelton said. “(Lee) handled it extremely professionally. … He and I had a very open and honest conversation. He asked me some good questions. I gave him some thoughts. His last comment to me was whatever was going to be best for us to win. That’s exactly what you want a player to say.”Lee acknowledged before Tuesday’s game that he was surprised by the conversation. Though Lee thought he showed the Twins enough to stick at short, he didn’t argue.“I felt like I played good shortstop,” Lee said. “But ultimately, I think they see me as a better third baseman. I respect that and I think I can be. … Just to have a home anywhere in the infield and in the lineup, that’s the most important thing.”For now, the Twins will rotate players in at shortstop. Ryan Kreidler is the team’s best defensive option at shortstop, while Orlando Arcia is the team’s most experienced. Both appeared at the position late in Tuesday’s win after Tristan Gray started the game.Lee thought his production from mid-April until last week was much improved over that from the first three weeks of the season. But he’s being open-minded to the switch and is working to make sure his tenure at third goes well.“I just view myself as a good infielder, one that can play all three positions,” Lee said. “Hopefully not first base anytime soon. It doesn’t matter. I’m a little more grown up, where I’m satisfied with being on the field every day. It is what it is. But I think they know and they trust me with playing third base, and they think I can do it really well. I thought I proved myself at shortstop with the plays I made. For them to think I can be even better at third is a plus.”May 27, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms