The Minnesota Twins are rolling as they’re on a 7-game winning streak after sweeping a 4-game series at home vs the Chicago White Sox and then sweeping a 3-game series against the Los Angeles Angels. Now they are playing Chicago again but it’s in their park. They also just swept the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-game series to double their win total so… are they a different team now?
2024 Minnesota Twins Schedule
14-13
MLB Standings
4th Place in AL Central
––––– TT –––––
2024 Chicago White Sox Schedule
6-22
MLB Standings
5th Place in AL Central
––––– TT –––––
Twinsactions
The Minnesota Twins activated SS Carlos Correa off the 10-Day Injured List (mild right intercostal strain previously reported as a right oblique strain) and optioned UTIL Austin Martin to Triple-A St. Paul. Martin showed well in his first MLB call-up, playing LF, CF & 2B and making some spectacular defensive plays. He had 7 extra-base hits (6 doubles & 1 home run) among his 14 hits in 22 games. He’ll be back at some point.
Some older Twinsaction news:
RHP Jhoan Duran (right oblique strain): “successfully completed a two-game rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul on April 27, when his fastball averaged a much more typical 101.8 mph, and he was in Chicago for the start of the Twins’ series against the White Sox on April 29, with the expectation that he’ll be activated on April 30 to join the roster for the first time this season.”
RHP Justin Topa (left patellar tendinitis): sent on a rehab assignment on April 25th; threw 15 pitches, fanning the side; rainouts have pushed his 2nd appearance back a couple days, presumably on April 30th
––––– TT –––––
Here’s how both teams lined up:
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
Chicago White Sox Lineup:
Game Recap
The pitching matchup:
Chicago White Sox
LHP Garrett Crochet
(1-4, 6.37 ERA, 1.180 WHIP*)
vs
Minnesota Twins
RHP Joe Ryan
(1-1, 3.45 ERA, 1.012 WHIP*)
*ERA=Earned Run Average; WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
Minnesota Twins DH Ryan Jeffers flew out to left field to begin the game. SS Carlos Correa grounded out to short & 3B Jose Miranda struck out swinging to end the top of the 1st.
Chicago White Sox 2B Nicky Lopez singled to center field on the 1st pitch he saw. 1B Andrew Vaughn was up next. He fouled off the first 2 pitches to go down 0-2 then took a pitch outside for ball 1. The 4th pitch, a sweeper up & in sure looked like it should’ve been strike 3 but the ump didn’t call it so the count was even instead of being the 1st out. The catcher was set up for a pitch on the outside of the plate but the ump is set up to see that pitch perfectly so… why isn’t it called a strike? Is it the ump’s strike zone?
It looks like he swung on the next pitch but the 1st base ump said he didn’t:
He fouled off the next pitch then got an inside fastball that he hammered to the left center field wall to score Nicky Lopez from 1st:
RF Gavin Sheets followed with a single to right field & Andrew Vaughn advanced to 3rd. Twins pitcher Joe Ryan then got DH Eloy Jiménez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play but Vaughn scored from 3rd. LF Andrew Benintendi then grounded out to 1st to end the 1st inning.
So… if strike 3 or the check swing was called on Andrew Vaughn for the 1st out, who knows how that inning would’ve played out. If some a challenge system was in place, the Twins would likely have challenged that 4th pitch & it would’ve been a strike if we agreed that the broadcast’s box is a good measurement of the actual strike zone.
Minnesota Twins 0 | 2 Chicago White Sox
End of the 1st
Twins CF Byron Buxton struck out looking at three pitches to lead off the 2nd inning. LF Manuel Margot walked and there were 2 called balls (pitches 3 & 5) that were in the zone.
The home plate umpire’s high zone was apparently a lot lower than the broadcast’s or the real strike zone. Great! This should be an interesting thing to keep track of. Ahh… the strike zone is like pi. We will never know what the answer to it is.
On the next pitch, Carlos Santana was at the plate and…
THIS…
GAME…
WAS…
TIED!!!
Does that make it even on bad calls from the home plate umpire? The Twins only got one run because of it whereas the White Sox got two so… whatever! LF Willi Castro singled on a soft grounder to the pitcher who threw wildly to 1st but Castro didn’t advance to 2nd on the play. He then stole 2nd but C Christian Vázquez struck out looking & 2B Kyle Farmer flew out to right field to end the top of the 2nd.
Minnesota Twins 2 | 2 Chicago White Sox
Middle of the 2nd
Chicago got a 1-out walk from CF Rafael Ortega in the bottom of the 2nd but SS Paul Dejong grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the 2nd inning.
Over the next 6 innings, there were just 3 walks & 3 hits (all singles) and the Twins only had 2 of the walks and none of the hits but the game was still tied at 2.
RHP Brad Keller replaced Garrett Crochet to begin the 6th inning. He allowed 2 walks but no hits over 1.2 innings before he was replaced by LHP Tim Hill who finished off the 7th inning.
Chicago White Sox
RHP Garrett Crochet’s Final Line:
5IP 2H 2R 2ER 1BB 7K 1HR
Twins RHP Joe Ryan was replaced by RHP Brock Stewart to begin the 7th inning and Stew sandwiched a groundout between 2 swinging strikeouts.
Minnesota Twins
RHP Joe Ryan’s Final Line:
6IP 6H 2R 2ER 1BB 3K
RHP Michael Kopech replaced Tim Hill to pitch the 8th inning for Chicago & he set down the Twins 1-2-3. RHP Griffin Jax replaced Brock Stewart and he allowed a leadoff single to C Korey Lee & a 2-out walk to Gavin Sheets before striking out DH Eloy Jiménez with a nasty changeup to end the 8th.
So it was on to the 9th in a tie ballgame…
Byron Buxton, Max Kepler & Carlos Santana were due up against White Sox RHP John Brebbia. Buxton hit the 1st pitch down the left field line for a double (8)
That’s some Buck Trucking:
RF Max Kepler worked the count full…
He hit the inside fastball for a single to right field to score Buxton & put the Twins up 3-2.
Santana struck out swinging. Castro lined out to center field & Vázquez struck out swinging.
Minnesota Twins 3 | 2 Chicago White Sox
Middle of the 9th
LHP Caleb Thielbar was called on to save the game for Minnesota. He got Benintendi to strike out swinging. He walked Mendick but then got pinch-hitter Tommy Pham to line out to right field for the 2nd out. Former Twin Robbie Grossman hit a bloop single to right to put the tying run in scoring position on 3rd base and the winning run on. To the plate was C Korey Lee.
<iframe src=”https://streamable.com/m/caleb-thielbar-swinging-strike-to-korey-lee?partnerId=web_video-game-index-page_video-share” width=”560″ height=”315″></iframe>
Even though Caleb starts with a C, the man at the plate’s name started with a K & Thielbar needed just 3 pitches to strike him out swinging for his 2nd save and an 8-game winning streak for the Minnesota TWWWWWWWWINS!
––––– TT –––––
Final Score
Minnesota Twins 3 | 2 Chicago White Sox
W-Griffin Jax (2-2) L-John Brebbia (0-1)
S-Caleb Thielbar (2)
––––– TT –––––
Thank You for reading our TwinsTakes! We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes!
So, hit us up on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and/or LinkedIn!!!
That’s why it’s…
