White Sox 6, Twins 4: Poor At-Bats Late Prove Costly, Chicago Takes the Series

[Thiéres Rabelo]

The bats came back to life after a cold night on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough. A short start by Louie Varland and a critical missed opportunity late with the bases loaded cost Minnesota the game and the series.

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Louie Varland, 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (87 pitches, 59 strikes, 67.8%)
Home Runs: Nick Gordon (2)
Bottom 3 WPA: Trevor Larnach (-.234), Louie Varland (-.203), Griffin Jax (-.165)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Chicago jumps on Varland early
Minnesota dropped the series opener on Tuesday night after the bats went painfully cold, and a terrific shutout start by Joe Ryan went to waste. The Twins’ offense produced only three hits all night, and the White Sox walked it off in the tenth. On Wednesday, despite facing Chicago’s staff ace in Dylan Cease, the bats needed to come back to life if Minnesota was going to avoid the White Sox’s first series win of the season.

However, different from last night, Chicago’s bats made the first move and jumped to an early lead in the first inning. Emergency starter Louie Varland was called up earlier on Wednesday to replace Tyler Mahle, who was placed on the injured list with a right arm posterior impingement and flexor pronator strain. Making his second big league start of the season, Varland was ambushed right out of the gate.

Varland walked Tim Anderson, and after he retired the following two batters, Chicago did some two-out damage. Eloy Jiménez collected a single to send Anderson to third, and he was followed by Luis Robert Jr., who crushed a three-run shot to center. Could the offense wake up and bale him out of his first big-league loss of the season?

Correa, Buxton, Gordon bring the Twins back
Yes, they did it. After a scoreless second inning, the Twins' offense produced more hits in the third inning than they did in the entire game on Tuesday. Willi Castro led off the inning with a single, and after Cease retired the next two batters, it was time the Twins did some two-out damage of their own. Jorge Polanco hit a liner to right, and with men on the corners, Carlos Correa hit a 108 mph groundball down the left field line to score both runners. Next, Byron Buxton wasted no time and jumped on the first pitch he saw for and RBI double off of the center field wall, scoring Correa and tying the game.

And the bats weren’t done. After Varland delivered a scoreless third, Nick Gordon hit a solo home run in the fourth to give the Twins their first lead of the game, 4-3. The Twins infielder also hit a pinch-hit home run on Tuesday, with this becoming the first time in his big-league career that he homered in back-to-back games.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, Varland was unable to hold on to that lead. In the bottom of the fourth, he loaded the bases after giving up a two-out walk to Chicago’s number nine hitter Elvis Andrus. Back to the top of the White Sox lineup, Anderson lined a single to right to score the tying run. Fortunately, Yasmani Grandal was easily thrown out by Max Kepler at home to end the threat.

Twins load the bases with no outs, come away empty-handed
During the seventh inning, the Twins had their best chance to bust the game open. Facing reliever Gregory Santos, Minnesota loaded the bases before he could record an out. Ryan Jeffers and Max Kepler hit back-to-back singles, and Polanco laid down a bunt. Santos slipped as he neared the ball and suddenly the bases were loaded for Correa.

Correa and Buxton, though, were a tad too impatient. Both of them jumped on early pitches but failed to get the ball out of the infield, allowing Chicago’s defense to make two fine plays to get the outs at home. Trevor Larnach had a considerably better at-bat next but ended up striking out swinging on eight pitches.

The Twins were punished soon after that. In the bottom of the seventh, Anderson hit yet another leadoff single for his third hit of the night, facing Griffin Jax. Though Jax was able to pick Anderson off at first, he gave up a single and a walk next, allowing Jiménez to single to left and push Andrew Benintendi across, giving Chicago a 5-4 lead.

An uninspired offense went down in order in the top of the eighth, and Chicago added on another run. Grandal hit a leadoff single against Jovani Morán and was replaced by former Twin Billy Hamilton as the pinch-runner. Hamilton moved up to second on a sac-bunt and later scored from second when Andrus grounded out. Jorge Polanco ranged across second base and threw to first base for the out. Donovan Solano bobbled the ball in his attempt to throw home, but Hamilton was going to be safe regardless. With two outs in the ninth, Polanco had a tremendous plate appearance, drawing a walk on 11 pitches and bringing Correa to the plate. The Twins superstar, however, struck out swinging, and the game was over.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
The two teams meet again on Thursday (5/4) afternoon for the final game of the series, with the first pitch scheduled for 1:10 pm CDT. Twins ace Pablo López (2-2, 4.00 ERA) takes the mound looking to bounce back after a pair of rough outings that caused his ERA to more than double in the last ten days. Chicago will turn to Lucas Giolito (1-2, 4.15 ERA) for the start, with the righty trying to get back on track after a tough start to the season.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Pagán	0	23	0	0	18	41
Jax	15	0	0	9	15	39
Stewart	0	13	0	24	0	37
Thielbar	22	0	0	13	0	35
López	16	0	0	15	0	31
Winder	0	23	0	0	0	23
Durán	15	7	0	0	0	22
Morán	0	0	0	0	9	9

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[Aggies7]

Land of 10,000 Rakes

 

 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

All is _not_ forgiven.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Crap on crap cracker.

[jkcarew]

Playing poorly and winning never lasts.

[Peter]

Another crap win by white sox🤮💩👎 7th inning was horrible and that can’t ever happen again!!! Must must must score with bases loaded and no outs. At least Cleveland lost and we have 3 game lead. Win tomorrow/sweep guardians and get 6.5 lead and blow open division in winning it, go Twins 

[Rosterman]

Can they be more aggressive? Not sure what is happening to this offense.

Man, all those dribblers with the bases loaded. Sheesh!

[tony&rodney]

I may be alone on an island but I might rather see a line drive double play than futile hacks for the fences at high fastballs above the zone. The strike outs are not what sells tickets.

[Eris]

“bringing Correa to the plate. The Twins superstar, however, struck out swinging, and the game was over”

On a ball that was at least a foot off the plate  

Almost painful to watch the poor plate discipline from a lot of the Twins batters  

Also Jeffers got thrown out at 3rd base with 2 outs on boneheaded base running.  The Twins challenged and lost.  They really needed the lost challenge later when Castro was called out stealing 2B but was really safe  

 

[rwilfong86]

These are the most winnable games on the schedule for May, I won't be surprised if the Twins are well under .500 come June 1. 

[bighat]

7 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

I may be alone on an island but I might rather see a line drive double play than futile hacks for the fences at high fastballs above the zone. The strike outs are not what sells tickets.

You're not alone. 

The Twins 7th inning was horrendous in every way. But at least Correa and Buxton put the balls in play. Sure, they were tappers to the mound, but both of them put pressure (at least a little bit) on the defense. Larnach getting down 0-2 immediately and then striking out was much more painful to watch. 

 

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

I may be alone on an island but I might rather see a line drive double play than futile hacks for the fences at high fastballs above the zone. The strike outs are not what sells tickets.

YO HEY!

I'm on this island to. I brought you a Papaya last night. What's this alone stuff? 

[Oldtimer]

Spending too much time in the dugout watching themselves on their tablets. Get yourselves into the ballgame and whats happening on the field. Take their tablets away Rocco.

[mikelink45]

I have been a Larnach fan but he looked really lost  I was really disappointed. He's becoming yet a hacker, he's got enough power. He doesn't have to go crazy with his swings. It's time for some contact, especially in the situations where he was yesterday. 

[Peter]

1 hour ago, rwilfong86 said:

These are the most winnable games on the schedule for May, I won't be surprised if the Twins are well under .500 come June 1. 

Not a chance!!! Twins have best team in division by far-this is minor bump as division should be over by all start break.

[Whitey333]

I'm really disappointed in Twins performance the past two days against the White Sox.  But I am not surprised.  This team has more holes in it than a pack of Swiss cheese.  How's that for originality?  Lose against a lousy team playing lousy baseball.  This team so directly reflects it's boring, undisciplined,  unimaginative manager Rocco that appears to spend more time making excuses for the poor play of his inept team than he does trying to play winning baseball.

[stringer bell]

The White Sox bullpen has been bad, until they face the Twins. What is up with that?

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, rwilfong86 said:

These are the most winnable games on the schedule for May, I won't be surprised if the Twins are well under .500 come June 1. 

You may be right.  Take away beating up on the 2nd worst team in MLB (KC), and we are 11-13.  

[Mark G]

"Correa and Buxton, though, were a tad too impatient. Both of them jumped on early pitches but failed to get the ball out of the infield, allowing Chicago’s defense to make two fine plays to get the outs at home. Trevor Larnach had a considerably better at-bat next but ended up striking out swinging on eight pitches."

Maybe it is just me, but how is striking out a "better at-bat" than putting the ball in play, no matter how many pitches it takes to strike out?  

Making the defense "make two fine plays" strikes me as much better at bats than just making the catcher catch strike 3.  

[cHawk]

I have no idea what the hell this team is. They're 6-4 combined this season against Houston and New York, yet they're 4-6 combined against Washington, Chicago, and Miami.

Can someone explain this to me?

[MGX]

As frustrating as the last two games have been I can't agree with the doom & gloom regarding the Twins chances in the division. We have a talented enough team to win the division.

With that said watching the games so far this season (for longer really) there is a recurring theme - lack of awareness, lack of execution & lack of urgency.

 

[Squirrel]

1 minute ago, cHawk said:

I have no idea what the hell this team is. They're 6-4 combined this season against Houston and New York, yet they're 4-6 combined against Washington, Chicago, and Miami.

Can someone explain this to me?

Yes. It’s how the cookie crumbles, and yes, it’s frustrating, but so it goes,

[Senor Smoke]

16 minutes ago, cHawk said:

I have no idea what the hell this team is. They're 6-4 combined this season against Houston and New York, yet they're 4-6 combined against Washington, Chicago, and Miami.

Can someone explain this to me?

Isn't this MN sports in a nutshell ? 🥶

[WinTwins2023]

1 hour ago, Oldtimer said:

Spending too much time in the dugout watching themselves on their tablets. Get yourselves into the ballgame and whats happening on the field. Take their tablets away Rocco.

Once you start playing candy crush it's hard to stop.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Oldtimer said:

Spending too much time in the dugout watching themselves on their tablets. Get yourselves into the ballgame and whats happening on the field. Take their tablets away Rocco.

I'm confused. Do you want them paying attention to what's happening on the field or not? Because that's what's on those tablets. They're watching their previous at bats, and videos of the pitcher's pitches. Would you prefer they're on the railing watching the pitcher from the side where they don't get an idea of how the ball really breaks or watching video on the tablet that shows them what the ball is actually doing? Would you rather them just do mental reps, or mental reps with the actual footage of the actual pitches they got, and their actual swings? The Twins not using those tablets would put them at a drastic disadvantage in 2023.

[Shobae]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I have been a Larnach fan but he looked really lost  I was really disappointed. He's becoming yet a hacker, he's got enough power. He doesn't have to go crazy with his swings. It's time for some contact, especially in the situations where he was yesterday. 

Well look on the bright side, if he's become a hacker he could probably do a man in the middle attack on the white sox pitchcom and then know what's coming, I'm sure Correa would be supporting him.

[Riverbrian]

22 minutes ago, cHawk said:

I have no idea what the hell this team is. They're 6-4 combined this season against Houston and New York, yet they're 4-6 combined against Washington, Chicago, and Miami.

Can someone explain this to me?

1. Bad teams win 4 games out of 10. -- 65-97 (They got to beat someone to win 4 out of 10). 

2. Average teams win 5 out of 10 -- 81-81 Record 

3. Great teams lose 4 games out of 10 -- 97-65 Record (They got to lose to someone to lose 4 out of 10)

The margins are thin and there are no absolutes from day to day. Sometimes a baseball bloops in and sometimes a rocket off the bat is caught. 

Any thought that these are teams that we should beat and these are teams that we should lose to ignores decades upon decades of the 3 points above being absolute reality. You got to strap it on and compete every day because everybody is capable of beating you on any given day and they often do.     

Or as Squirrel put it... It's the way the cookie crumbles. 😀 

[Blyleven2011]

Another botched opportunity  , Jeffers thrown out at third and killed a rally ( on top of that Rocco challenged  and lost another one ) , Rocco is not good  on challenges  this year ( 1 for 6 )  , and that botch lost our challenges for the whole game  ...

The twins continue to lose rallies  by not executing  , they are not managed properly  by coaches to be called professionals  , sure would have been nice to have our only exciting professional hitter (  arreaz  ) up in that situation  , OH that's right he was traded ...

Are we missing the major leaguer ( arreaz ) yet , of course we are ...

[John Belinski]

Just a few days ago there was talk of a sweep, but after two poorly played games maybe the Sox will sweep. Rocco said there is no one to blame, but when the Twins have the bases loaded with no outs and their 2 highest paid players coming to bat it is really disappointing that they do not score even one run. If the Twins can not get big hits from their high paid hitters they will have a hard time winning.

[Shobae]

1 hour ago, Mark G said:

"Correa and Buxton, though, were a tad too impatient. Both of them jumped on early pitches but failed to get the ball out of the infield, allowing Chicago’s defense to make two fine plays to get the outs at home. Trevor Larnach had a considerably better at-bat next but ended up striking out swinging on eight pitches."

Maybe it is just me, but how is striking out a "better at-bat" than putting the ball in play, no matter how many pitches it takes to strike out?  

Making the defense "make two fine plays" strikes me as much better at bats than just making the catcher catch strike 3.  

It's a better at bat because Lanarch had a much better approach, that if you replicate it across a season, that will lead to much better results than free swinging into making soft contact into the ground. It's quite incredible how 2 good major league hitters can't manage to hit a ball out of the infield. I mean surely if buxton can do something at the plate it's hit the ball in the air? But it seems load 'em up leave 'em on is the twins hitting philosophy. Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, seems nobody in this division wants to win it right now.