Woof, White Sox, woof
The Minnesota Twins had lost six of their last seven games. They hadn’t scored five or more runs in a game until their extra-inning explosion against Detroit nine days ago — aided by a key Tigers error and capped by a home run against a position player. The Twins were largely non-competitive against the Orioles last week and had fits and starts against the Tigers over the weekend, too.
But none of the misery even approaches the depths to which the Chicago White Sox have fallen.
As the FS1 broadcast repeated breathlessly, the White Sox became the first team in MLB history to be shut out in eight of their first 22 games. Outside of a Twins-defense-aided blip in the top of the fourth inning, Chris Paddack absolutely dominated the Sox.
Chicago didn’t have a hit until that fourth inning. All were scratch singles, two of which didn’t even leave the infield. The White Sox managed two more ground-ball singles that snuck through the infield in the fifth, but that was the last time they managed to get a runner to second base against Paddack.
Offensively, the Twins did most of their damage early, scoring five of their seven runs in the first three innings and six in the first four.
The first-inning rally started with two outs, as Trevor Larnach, hitting in the three-hole, coaxed a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Ryan Jeffers laced a single to center field and Larnach pressed the matter, going from first to third with two outs. White Sox center fielder Dominic Fletcher threw all the way to third and Jeffers never slowed down, getting to second base without breaking stride. Both runners scored on a double by Max Kepler, giving the Twins an all-important early lead.
Carlos Santana led off the second inning with a hit — just his second at Target Field this season — but was erased on a double-play grounder by Jose Miranda. But the Twins struck again in the bottom of the third inning, again spurred on by the top of the lineup.
Eddie Julien singled and scored on a double by Larnach. With two outs, Kepler knocked in Larnach with a single and then scored on a double by Willi Castro, who took a high fastball the other way and banged it off the base of the wall in front of the bullpen in left-center.
The Twins did damage with two outs once again in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Kirilloff singled and came all the way around from first to score on a Julien double off the wall, making the score 6-0.
All the while, Paddack continued to roll, going on a string of strikeouts spanning the sixth and seventh innings. Julien added another run with a solo home run to right in the seventh, and the tally was 7-0 when Paddack gave way to the recently-called-up Ronny Henriquez.
Henriquez was fine, giving up two hits and a walk over two innings but never allowed an opponent past second base. The result? The first non-stressful Twins win since the Simeon Woods Richardson win in the doubleheader nightcap nine days ago and easily their most complete win of the season to date.
Notes
- Yes, this was the White Sox — the only team worse than the Twins offensively so far this season. But Paddack looked solid, routinely hitting 95-96 miles-per-hour on his fastball and locating a changeup when necessary as well. His control was great, and he looked every bit the part of a mid-rotation starter.
- Kirilloff batted leadoff for the first time this season. It worked out.
- Austin Martin’s hitting streak was snapped. Combined with Miranda, the Twins’ 8-9 hitters went 0-for-8 and were the only members of the lineup that didn’t manage a hit.
- Kepler looked great at the plate and didn’t seem to be favoring his knee/leg at all on the basepaths.
- The White Sox had eight hits. They were all singles, and mostly were not hit hard at all. Again, it’s a testament to both Twins pitching and White Sox futility.
Studs
- Eddie Julien: 3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI
- Max Kepler: 2-for-4, 2B 3 RBI
- Chris Paddack: 7 IP, 6 H, 10 K, 0 BB
Duds
- None — Twins win! Twins win!