The Minnesota Twins got a taste of what the Chicago White Sox offense could bring yesterday as they were beat 10-3 after the bullpen got roughed up for 9 runs & 5 home runs in 4 innings so they’ll need to win the rubber game today to stay above .500 and to regain 1st place in the division, which was deadlocked with all 5 teams having a record of 1-1.
But…does the White Sox winning 10-3 mean they are in this thing until the end in the 2nd game of the season? Or does it mean they won a game? How ‘bout we give it at least a week or two before we anoint any team who had a losing record last season to this season’s playoffs even though there are now 16 playoff spots this season.
The White Sox have a great lineup with some good young players but if they’re young, they will undoubtedly go through some struggles like pretty much every player who’s played the game before them. Is the pitching where they will struggle and will it happen as they move down their rotation like today, for example? The Twins send RHP Kenta Maeda to the mound and the White Sox send RHP Reynaldo Lopez to the mound. Lopez’ lowest WHIP (Walks & Hits per Inning Pitched) in any of his 5 MLB seasons is 1.27 while Maeda’s highest WHIP in any of his 5 MLB seasons is 1.26. Lopez’ career ERA is 4.74 in 465.0 innings while Maeda’s is 3.86 in 594.0 innings. Now, Maeda is 32 & Lopez is 26 so there’s a big difference there but they are both in the 3rd spot in their team’s rotation.
Alright, let’s see what happened in today’s game.
The first inning started out well for the White Sox as they got 2 groundouts even if the 2nd one had to be overturned by replay but it all went downhill quickly for them. Jorge Polanco walked. Nelson Cruz then doubled down the left field line to advance Polanco to 3rd. Eddie Rosario then walked to load the bases to bring up Jake Cave in a big spot.
2 pitches later it was 4-0 thanks to a Jack Cave Grand Slam to left field and to make it worse for the White Sox, LF Eloy Jimenez hit the wall hard and awkwardly as he was tracking the ball. He ended up coming out of the game in the 2nd inning because of an “injured head” according to the report. Then, more great news for the Sox as starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez threw a pitch and cringed in pain and he had to be taken out of the game, later said to be because of an “injured shoulder.”
Luis Arraez singled but Marwin Gonzalez then struck out to end the inning. That meant RHP Kenta Maeda was coming to the mound to make his Minnesota Twins Debut and he did not disappoint. He allowed just 2 hits and no walks in the first 4 innings while striking out 6.
The Twins meanwhile, were putting up more runs. They loaded the bases again in the 2nd inning behind a hit by pitch (Alex Avila), a walk (Josh Donaldson) and a Jorge Polanco single. That brought up Nelson Cruz and he hit another double. This one went down the right field line and it cleared the bases for a 7-0 Twins lead but they weren’t done yet. Eddie Rosario knocked in Cruz with a double of his own and Luis Arraez added another run with an RBI-single to left field. 9-0 Twins.
The Twins added another run in the 4th on Nelson Cruz’s 2nd HR of the season to center field. 10-0 Twins.
The White Sox showed a little life in their bats and got to Kenta Maeda in the bottom of the 5th inning when Adam Engel led off the inning with his 2nd double of the game and then Luis Robert hit a home run on the very next pitch, both hits coming on changeups in almost identical spots. 10-2 Twins.
The Twins put 3 more runs on the board in the top of the 8th on Nelson Cruz’ 2nd HR of the game. This one was a 3-run shot that went down the left field line and scored Donaldson (walk) and Polanco (single). 13-0 Twins.
Marwin Gonzalez added his 1st HR of the season in the top of the 9th.
The Twins bullpen did okay again. It was LHP Lewis Thorpe (2.2 innings) and RHP Matt Wisler (1.1 innings), who had thrown 24 pitches on Saturday but it was a 12-run game and the Twins needed to relieve Thorpe. Wisler struggled a little, allowing 2 walks and 1 hit but he struck out 4 so every player he got out was with the strikeout. Thorpe gave up a hit and 2 walks and didn’t strike out anyone but he also didn’t allow any damage so they both might need some work or just the time to get the rust off.
The Twins have tomorrow off then have their Home Opener on Tuesday at 7:10pm on Tuesday with RHP Homer Bailey getting the ball against the St. Louis Cardinals who will have RHP Carlos Martinez on the mound. Here’s the rest of the series scheduled starters:
Twins LHP Rich Hill vs RHP Miles Mikolas – 7:10pm on Fox Sports North
See more Highlights from Today’s Game HERE!!!
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