Game Score: White Sox 11, Twins 1

[Nate Palmer]

The Twins came in hot, but Giolito and Jimenez were too much as they pitched and slugged the White Sox to a 11-1 victory at Target Field.  

Box Score
Starter: Beau Burrows 2.0 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Home Runs: Sano (19)
Bottom 3 WPA: Burrows (-.402), Kepler (-.027), Sano (-.019)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins were riding high as they came into Target Field after a good road trip. All we had to do is look at the pitching matchup for the first game to know that the hot streak had little chance to carry into the first game of the homestand.

With the state of the Twins rotation being what it is, the home team went with an opener/bullpen game Monday night, with Beau Burrows getting the first nod. Coming into the night, Burrows had logged 9.0 innings in the majors and sported an ugly 11.00 ERA. Monday night did not help that situation one bit. 

Burrows wound up allowing two home runs in the first inning. One was a lead-off homer by Tim Anderson. Then after a walk to new White Sox second baseman Cesar Hernandez, Eloy Jimenez hit his own home run to put the White Sox up 3-0. 

What makes a rough pitching performance worse, you might ask? A fielding error behind him. Burrows should have gotten out of the first by popping Luis Robert up, but Miguel Sano, while back peddling, dropped the easy out, letting in the 4th run of the 1st inning. 

The second inning wasn’t any better for the Twins right-hander as the top of the White Sox lineup did damage again. This time with Tim Anderson and Cesar Hernandez on the basepaths, Jimenez again found the seats with a 3-run home run and his second in as many innings as Monday night's game. Just like that, Burrows 11.00 ERA was up to 13.91. 

With the game score at 7-0 after two innings, the game was all but over before it even started. There was a bright spot in another recent pick-up for the Twins off the waiver wire. 

Edgar Garcia Looks Sharp

July 30th, the Twins acquired Garcia off waivers from the Phillies. After one waiver claim in Burrows that the Twins acquired didn’t do well, Garcia sent down seven batters in a row. His stuff looked good, and the results followed. Garcia was lifted after pitching 2.1 innings and giving up a single to Yoan Moncada. 

While Burrows ERA ballooned, Garcia's dropped from 16.62 to 12.15 with his strong performance.

Giolito Tossed a Gem

It wasn’t a perfect game, and a smash up the middle by Luis Arraez prevented it from being a no-hitter, but it was still a magnificent game by the White Sox starter. In the end, he would make one mistake (see below) and would strike out eight Twins batters. 

Monday night was a night whereas a Twins fan, we are reminded that Giolito is one of the really dominant arms that resides within the AL Central. While it seemed that Nelson Cruz always brought his best against Giolito, the Twins will now have to figure out how to compete when he is on the mound without Cruz. 

Sano Scores Lone Run

Giolito did let one sinker sit too high in the zone. While there is plenty to criticize Sano about, one thing that is certain is that he can crush a pitcher’s mistake. He did just that to end the shutout and notch his150th career home run. 

Monday night ends by looking like just one more jab from the White Sox to the Twins. As the White Sox run away with a division the Twins were supposed to be competing with them in; the Sox continued their dominance by taking a page out of the BOMBA squad book. 

Postgame Interview 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Barnes	80	0	0	0	0	68	148
Burrows	13	0	0	0	0	64	77
Minaya	44	0	17	0	12		73
Duffey	0	21	20	0	15		56
Thielbar	22	8	0	20	0		50
Colomé	0	7	17	0	18		42
Coulombe	0	17	14	0	7		38
Garcia	0	0	0	0	0	32	32
Gant	0	0	17	13	0		30

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[USAFChief]

This is all you need to know about the talent difference between these two clubs: up 11-1, the Sox can send out a LHer throwing 97 for mop up duty. 

 

 

[Dave The Dastardly]

Close game. Twins were in it until... the first inning.

 

 

[Seth Stohs]

2 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Close game. Twins were in it until... the first inning.

but up until then... It was tight!! 

[bean5302]

I heard the Twins looked competitive in warm ups!

[Game7-91]

6 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

This is all you need to know about the talent difference between these two clubs: up 11-1, the Sox can send out a LHer throwing 97 for mop up duty. 

 

 

Spot on. It's a long way up between these pitching staffs. Can Austin Martin pitch? Now Im just being pissy. But honestly, hard to know what direction this organization is going when we trade our sole true #2 SP for a IF/LF who knows what and a guy who maybe is a SP prospect and maybe is a SP suspect....hard to tell the difference these days. Yeah, I'm just being pissy.

 

 

[joefish]

I took a Rally Nap in the 3rd inning. Pretty dismal start to this series opener at home. It looked like an early morning get-away day game. 

[D.C Twins]

Burrows, Barnes, Rooker, Sano..... I've seen enough of all of them to know that they are not a part of any successful Twins future....

[darwin22]

 

 

and and 5ns A few observations after ANOTHER day that the Sox kick sand in our faces.....17 games....13 losses:

1.  Made this comment on other threads, but will repeat it here:  Beau "duke" Burrows should NEVER pitch in another game in this organization.  Not at Saint Paul.  Not at Wichita.  Not in Cedar Rapids. Not in Ft. Myers.  He needs to be DFA'ed tonight.

2. As horrendous as Burrows was (and is)-----Garcia's effort actually looked promising.  Now possibly, the Sox hitters got tired pounding the ball out of the park against Burrows, but Garcia appeared to have a plan and executed it.

3.  2 hits on the night.  Two.  Enough said.  PS-- I could care less about the meaningless solo shot by Sano.  

4.  How much longer do the fans who live and die (its been morbid since April) with this team have to WAIT to see Hamilton, Moran or Cano promoted from Saint Paul?  

[jkcarew]

7 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Burrows, Barnes, Rooker, Sano..... I've seen enough of all of them to know that they are not a part of any successful Twins future....

Curious time to throw Sano in with Burrows, Barnes, and Rooker, isn’t it? With a slick fielding first baseman who never makes an error…instead of Sano…the final score of this game is 10-0.

[mikelink45]

Okay - Detroit cuts Burrows.  We pick him up.  What is wrong with that scenario?  I guess we know now and no, this is not the first time Burrows has looked bad.  Who is next on the Twins assembly line?  Could we, maybe, try one of our own minor leaguer BP pitchers who have actually done well this year?  If they do bad what can we say?  At least they weren't scrapped out of someone else's dustbin.

[ashbury]

If MLB had 60-man or 80-man rosters to play with, maybe I could support this kind of farting around like we see with Beau Freaking Burrows. But they don't, so I don't. 

Then again, if the rosters were larger, then the waiver-wire pickings would be even slimmer, and the flyers this team takes would still be impossible to support.

This is the kind of Brownian motion that bottom feeder teams do when trying to improve themselves, not a team that styles itself as a contender.  Oops, wait, this year we are a bottom feeder team.  Again.

I still don't have to like these moves, and I remain a skeptic even when they seemingly catch lightning in a bottle with the occasional Matt Wisler (only then to manage to convince themselves that it was all smoke and mirrors and let him go).

I'd like to just ignore today's ballgame and pretend it didn't happen, and move Burrows off the roster ASAP.

[theBOMisthebomb]

It's beyond tiring watching the Sox hand the Twins their rear ends in a platter this season. Maybe the Twins can save some face and win one of these next two (preferably Wednesday since I'll be at the game). The pitching matchups are lopsided Tuesday and Wednesday both and not in the Twins favor. Oh, how the mighty have fallen from 2019 and 2020. If last night wasn't a slap in the face of Twins fans showing what a trainwreck this season is, then nothing will be. 

[bighat]

Hamilton must have said something about Falvine's wife in Spring Training or something - no idea why he hasn't received a shot this season. I see he's got 41 IP this season in AAA, 25 total appearances - did he get hurt? Guy's 26 and all of his numbers look great. Saw him in ST and definitely passed the eye test.

I guess the Twins are doing diligence on guys like Burrows, Law, etc but it's painful to watch.  Speaking of painful, check out this list:

Cody Stashak
Devin Smeltzer
Luke Farrell
Randy Dobnak
Edward Colina
Jorge Alcala
Derek Law

Look at this list of names. What do you do with these guys? All of them are injured, all of were supposed to be a piece of a puzzle - and now nobody's sure if they're worth anything at all. They've all struggled at the MLB level, and most have had more bad games than good. Seriously, what the heck are Twins pitching coaches doing to these guys' arms?

 

[howeda7]

I feel sorry for anyone who spent $ on on tickets to this, only to have the team forfeight before the 1st pitch. 

Get Burrows, Simmons and Cave off this team. They have zero chance of being contributors in 2022. And for God's sake, IL Donladson already and get Miranda up here. 

[Dman]

1 hour ago, howeda7 said:

I feel sorry for anyone who spent $ on on tickets to this, only to have the team forfeight before the 1st pitch. 

Get Burrows, Simmons and Cave off this team. They have zero chance of being contributors in 2022. And for God's sake, IL Donladson already and get Miranda up here. 

Yeah I agree.  I know in baseball sometimes you have to play the long game and buy players some time to develop but the three guys you mentioned look cooked to me.  Burrows has never been good and looking at his flat fastball and not so great slider make me think he likely never will be.  If this is their way of getting back at Detroit for stealing Baddoo then they are cutting their nose off to spite their face.  Let's get some guys up that might have a chance.  That actually have a plus pitch to work with and see what they can do.  Borrows is not that guy and he more than proved it last night.

Simmons looks old out there and is a huge liability and rally killer in the batting order.  I mean they couldn't even get a team to take him off their hands at the deadline. If that doesn't tell you his status I don't know what does.  Take a dang chance and try someone like Palacios out there.  Yeah he might not be any better but honestly his bat can't be much worse than Simmons right now either.  Have some balls do something crazy and see what you have in this lost season.

Cave had three to four years to prove he could be the guy and he is pretty much the same player he always has been which is not good enough.  His options are up and he will no longer have the coveted 4th outfielder flexibility he once afforded this team.  I know they are hoping he can catch fire and maybe increase his trade value but it will be too little too late to do that anyway IMO.  At this point I would rather see Contreras take his place. Mark is a plus defender in the corners has power and a decent OPS in AAA.  Do I expect him to be better than Cave out of the gates no but at least he gets some MLB time and can be ready to fill the 4th outfielder outfielder role next year. Cave is far too inconsistent to be the answer.  Maybe he can turn things around but that is a big maybe IMO.  I think it is time to cut the cord there.

[RickOShea]

9 hours ago, darwin22 said:

 

 

and and 5ns A few observations after ANOTHER day that the Sox kick sand in our faces.....17 games....13 losses:

1.  Made this comment on other threads, but will repeat it here:  Beau "duke" Burrows should NEVER pitch in another game in this organization.  Not at Saint Paul.  Not at Wichita.  Not in Cedar Rapids. Not in Ft. Myers.  He needs to be DFA'ed tonight.

2. As horrendous as Burrows was (and is)-----Garcia's effort actually looked promising.  Now possibly, the Sox hitters got tired pounding the ball out of the park against Burrows, but Garcia appeared to have a plan and executed it.

3.  2 hits on the night.  Two.  Enough said.  PS-- I could care less about the meaningless solo shot by Sano.  

4.  How much longer do the fans who live and die (its been morbid since April) with this team have to WAIT to see Hamilton, Moran or Cano promoted from Saint Paul?  

How long do we have to wait til the FO suddenly appears?

[Whitey333]

That kind of performance by Baldelli should be reserved for road games only.  You don't leave an obviously overmatched young pitcher out there to get hammered in two innings at home in front of paying customers.  Disgraceful but predictable performance.  Plus where is the roster management here?  Why are Simmons cave and others still here?  Why have the Twins not put Donaldson on IL and give a young player a look see.  Seems to me there is very little direction here.

[PDX Twin]

10 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Who is next on the Twins assembly line?

I vote for Falvey to come in to pitch and see what it feels like. And no DH. He gets to hit, too.

[joefish]

Their hitters punished our pitchers' mistakes. Why don't ours? Watching Kepler swing at two balls in the dirt and then taking a called strike 3 right down the middle of the plate befuddled me. (Previous game) I miss James Rowson.

[RpR]

4 hours ago, howeda7 said:

I feel sorry for anyone who spent $ on on tickets to this, only to have the team forfeight before the 1st pitch. 

Get Burrows, Simmons and Cave off this team. They have zero chance of being contributors in 2022. And for God's sake, IL Donladson already and get Miranda up here. 

Simmons bat has gone South but then so has most of the entire team; lose Simmons and his fielding ability will make a bad team look worse.

[USAFChief]

15 hours ago, ashbury said:

If MLB had 60-man or 80-man rosters to play with, maybe I could support this kind of farting around like we see with Beau Freaking Burrows. But they don't, so I don't. 

Then again, if the rosters were larger, then the waiver-wire pickings would be even slimmer, and the flyers this team takes would still be impossible to support.

This is the kind of Brownian motion that bottom feeder teams do when trying to improve themselves, not a team that styles itself as a contender.  Oops, wait, this year we are a bottom feeder team.  Again.

I still don't have to like these moves, and I remain a skeptic even when they seemingly catch lightning in a bottle with the occasional Matt Wisler (only then to manage to convince themselves that it was all smoke and mirrors and let him go).

I'd like to just ignore today's ballgame and pretend it didn't happen, and move Burrows off the roster ASAP.

"Throw enough **** against the wall and some is bound to stick" doesn't sound like a solid method of pitching staff construction to you??

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

After Jimenez hit his first homer, it was 3-0, or “three-nothing Sox, in Minnesota!” according to the White Sox announcers.

“three-nothing Sox, in Minnesota!”

To which, I offer: adventures in Video Captioning Silver Linings:

 

 

[howeda7]

5 hours ago, RpR said:

Simmons bat has gone South but then so has most of the entire team; lose Simmons and his fielding ability will make a bad team look worse.

Since June 8th, he's batting .175 with a .442 OPS (and has 3 errors.) I don't see how it could possibly make them worse to play Polanco with Arreaz or Gordon.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Here's the lede for this story that the editors rejected:

Chicago took batting and baserunning practice at Target Field today while the Twins held pitching tryouts...

[RpR]

1 hour ago, howeda7 said:

Since June 8th, he's batting .175 with a .442 OPS (and has 3 errors.) I don't see how it could possibly make them worse to play Polanco with Arreaz or Gordon.

Because he has made fielding plays that none of the others would even attempt, maybe Arraez and he would throw the ball into right field.

In his worst year, Simmons made 14 errors at shortstop, in 2019 Polanco made 22 errors at shortstop