CHICAGO – Royce Lewis gave the Twins a brief injury scare, one inning after he clubbed a homer. Kenta Maeda often fell behind in counts, but he matched his longest start of the season.

It wasn’t always pretty, and it was far from perfect, but the Twins lowered their magic number to secure a division title to eight with their 10-2 victory over the White Sox in their series opener Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Twins, who played only three more games against a team with a winning record for the remainder of the regular season, scored four runs in the ninth inning. The first two runs scored without a ball leaving the infield, a rally that started when a batter reached base on a catcher’s throwing error after a strikeout.

Facing White Sox starter José Ureña, who entered with an 8.46 ERA in 22 innings this season, the Twins didn’t have a hit through the first three innings. They hit only three balls out of the infield, and one was a foul out in left field.

In the top of the fourth inning, Edouard Julien put the Twins ahead when he turned on a 93-mph sinker. His swing sent the ball over the right field fence and caused his helmet to fly off his head. It was his 13th home run of the season and his first trot around the bases helmetless.

Lewis followed three batters later with a 426-foot homer to left field, a no-doubter that elicited only a half-hearted jog from White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi. Lewis, who likes to point at relievers before he rounds second base, had trouble spotting the bullpen and broke into a laugh once he finally spotted them.

One inning later, Lewis tweaked his left ankle when he backhanded a chopper to his left, slipping in the grass in shallow left field before he made a strong throw across the diamond for an out. Lewis grimaced and bent at the waist, drawing a visit from head trainer Nick Paparesta.

When shortstop Kyle Farmer approached his rookie teammate, Lewis pointed to the spot in the grass where his ankle slipped. Lewis remained in the game after adjusting his left cleat.

The Twins knocked Ureña out of the game during a four-run seventh inning. After they had three baserunners through their first 22 batters, they had four consecutive hitters reach base. Alex Kirilloff and Willi Castro had back-to-back hits to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Matt Wallner hit a two-run single through the right side of the infield and Kyle Farmer followed with a two-run homer to left field.

Maeda, vying to be a starter in the postseason, completed seven innings in a season-high 105 pitches, permitting two runs on four hits. He racked up eight strikeouts, primarily with his splitter, despite throwing a first-pitch strike to only 11 of his 26 batters.

Falling behind in counts is typically a sign of trouble, but Maeda retired 14 of his first 15 batters with few balls even reaching the outfield. The White Sox produced a pair of two-out singles in the fifth inning, but a lineout ended the frame.

Maeda, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time since July 24, lost his shutout when he issued a one-out walk to Yoán Moncada and a two-run homer to Andrew Vaughn on an elevated slider. He remained on the mound after the homer, with a four-run lead, and retired the next two batters.

The 35-year-old righthander, who notched a $250,000 incentive bonus in his contract by surpassing 90 innings pitched, recorded his final out in an 11-pitch at-bat. He thought he had a strikeout earlier in the at-bat, but the umpiring crew asked to check the baseball and saw a scuff mark.

Seven pitches later, Maeda was out of the inning with a flyout.