Make It Official! Twins 13, White Sox 7: Twins Jump Out Early, Hold On for Sweep

[Hans Birkeland]

The Twins needed to take care of business against one of the worst teams in baseball history, and while the game got a little close for comfort in the late innings, they ultimately prevailed behind contributions throughout the batting order, handing the White Sox their 20th straight loss.

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 IP 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB 6 K (89 Pitches, 54 Strikes, 60.6%)
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (13)
Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler (.125), José Miranda (.094), Woods Richardson (.075)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

With the Guardians and Royals playing quite well of late, it was imperative that the Twins take advantage of a sad, hopeless, dysfunctional White Sox team. They took the first two games, despite both contests being oddly close for the first seven and a half innings. But never fear, the gods provided an offering in the form of Chris Flexen. He's a perfectly reasonable (I didn't say good) major-league pitcher most days, but not today, with his team riding a 19-game losing streak.

It looked like Flexen might squeeze out of trouble in the first. Willi Castro singled, but was quickly picked off of first, and Trevor Larnach swung through a middle-middle fastball shortly after that to record the second out of the inning. Byron Buxton, who entered the game 8-11 against Flexen, walked, as did Royce Lewis behind him. Max Kepler then dribbled a grounder to the second base side, but rookie infielder Brooks Baldwin botched it and everyone was safe, including Buxton speeding home from second base. José Miranda then scorched a liner up the middle to score Lewis and make the score 2-0.

Simeon Woods Richardson struggled his last time out, failing to complete four innings against a hot Mets lineup. Today, his command was an issue from the start, as he walked leadoff man Miguel Vargas. After a couple of strikeouts, he allowed a single to Andrew Vaughn and walked Lenyn Sosa to load the bases. He coaxed a groundout from Andrew Benintendi, though, to end the threat.

It's hard to gauge a pitcher's performance when a lineup includes just two or three MLB-caliber hitters. For example, Woods Richardson retired Nick Senzel, Nicky Lopez, and Korey Lee in order in the second. He was having trouble locating his slider and fastball, but White Sox hitters were happy to let him get away with it, at least for a while.

The Twins were not so kind to Flexen in the second. After a leadoff walk from Austin Martin, Christian Vázquez flied out to deep left center. Castro roped a double down the left-field line to score him, and then scored on a single to the gap from Trevor Larnach. Buxton was working the count, and I looked down at my laptop for a moment before hearing the loudest sound I think I have ever heard a bat make, as Buxton obliterated a fastball 113 MPH to left field. If Benintendi had had time to react, he may have been able to jump and catch it, since the ball was hit barely ten feet off the ground at any point.*

*Sidenote: Does anyone look less interested in playing baseball right now than Benintendi? There were two or three plays in this series on which he could have dived to record an out, but chose not to, including Castro's single in the first that nearly landed on his foot. Then, in the fifth, he nearly homered off of Cole Sands, but instead, the ball got stuck underneath the padding in right-center, which to any moderately engaged player means an automatic triple. But he just coasted into second looking like he was in line at the bank.

Royce Lewis then launched a fastball the other way for a three-run home run to make the score 7-0. Following another single from Miranda, Matt Wallner demolished a sweeper from new pitcher, lefty Sammy Peralta 407 feet off the high wall in right center for a triple to score Miranda.

SWR wasn't going to find his command just because he was given a lead, and gave up three runs over the next two innings, as White Sox hitters sat on his fastball and hit line drives all over the park. He was only able to get through four innings, allowing nine baserunners in the process. If Zebby Matthews were pitching better in Triple A (he's not, don't look it up), I might suggest some sort of manufactured IL stint for SWR to give him a blow and to see what Matthews has. As it stands, the Twins will have to stick with SWR and hope the encouraging signs from David Festa are legitimate. Otherwise we may get a dose of the 2021-2022 Twins, where the front of the rotation needed to be perfect not just to win games, but to save the bullpen from their inevitable overuse in relief of the back of the rotation.

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Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on.

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The Twins' at-bats deteriorated once Flexen left the game, chasing quite a few pitches and making outs early in counts. While they cruised along, the White Sox got three runs back against SWR and Benintendi took Jorge Alcala deep with a man on to cut the lead to three in the seventh.

 Fortunately, the White Sox turned to former Twins farmhand Prelander Berroa in the bottom half of the seventh. After retiring Miranda, he walked Wallner and Martin, then allowed a sharp single off of Lopez's glove to load the bases for Castro. A wild pitch from new pitcher, lefty Fraser Ellard, brought home Wallner and Castro drew a walk to reload the bags. Ryan Jeffers pinch hit and delivered a sacrifice fly to score the Twins' tenth run.

The White Sox continued to make it interesting, with Robert Jr. and Vaughn (the aforementioned two major league caliber hitters the White Sox feature) hitting run scoring doubles off of Randy Dobnak, who had decent stuff, but was too often in the middle of the zone.

The Twins added three more runs in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk from Vazquez and a two run single from Castro.

 

Trends:
(My general vibe about each player following today's game, based on zero inside information)

Key:	Healthy/Performing	Healthy/Trending Up
	Hurt/Performing	Hurt/Trending Up
	Healthy/Slumping	Healthy/Trending Down
	Hurt/Slumping	Hurt/Trending Down
	True Neutral	Dead/IL/Minors
C	Ryan Jeffers	Christian Vazquez
1B	Carlos Santana	Alex Kirilloff	Jose Miranda
2B	Edouard Julien	Kyle Farmer
3B	Royce Lewis
SS	Carlos Correa	Brooks Lee
LF	Matt Wallner	Trevor Larnach	Austin Martin
CF	Byron Buxton	Manuel Margot
RF	Max Kepler
UTIL	Willi Castro
SP	Pablo Lopez	Bailey Ober	Joe Ryan	Simeon Woods Richardson	Chris Paddack	Louie Varland	David Festa
CR	Jhoan Duran	Griffin Jax
SR	Brock Stewart	Jorge Alcala	Cole Sands
MR	Trevor Richards	Caleb Thielbar	Steven Okert
LR	Randy Dobnak

 

Notes: Buxton slammed into the high wall in right-center in the sixth, saving a run for Cole Sands and ending the inning, but was taken out of the game the next inning. He did not head into the clubhouse and remained in the dugout. After playing the first two games of the series, it's possible he may have gotten the day off had the Twins not been facing Flexen.

The Twins drew a total of nine walks, including three from Wallner.

What’s Next: David Festa (1-2, 6.98 ERA) starts for the Twins on Monday as they start a brief road trip against the other Chicago team, the Cubs. Kyle Hendricks (3-9, 6.86 ERA) goes for the northsiders as they play out the string on a lost season that began with some hope to contend in the NL Central. Hendricks has long been a poor man's Greg Maddux, baffling hitters with excellent command and diving offspeed pitches despite sitting in the mid 80's with his fastball velocity. However, similar to old friend Dallas Keuchel, he lost a few extra ticks off the fastball as he got into his mid-30's and just doesn't have enough to keep hitters honest, resulting in a dreadful 2024 season.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Alcalá	0	0	6	0	23	29
Jax	0	0	8	14	0	22
Dobnak	28	0	0	0	25	53
Durán	17	0	0	6	0	23
Thielbar	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richards	0	0	9	0	22	31
Sands	6	0	0	0	33	39
Okert	0	0	0	0	3	3

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[BH67]

That was laborious -- 390 pitches thrown in total. But it's a sweep nonetheless, and a season-high +14 vs. .500. How ironic that the team flying to Chicago tonight is not the team from Chicago.

Three at the Friendly Confines before the big homestand beginning Friday afternoon. Here's hoping that Waveland and Sheffield Avenues are full of Twins home runs this week.

[USAFChief]

Sweep is welcome and needed.

 

I had the same thoughts on Benintendi. A manager can't let that level of indifference fester. Thats not major league by either the player or the manager. Benintendi should absolutely have been pulled on that lazy double, if not before. Ridiculous.

[cHawk]

The White Sox are a comedy. I saw them at a Redbox I happened to walk by yesterday.

[Vanimal46]

My brother caught a foul ball today! So now my niece has her first ever MLB ball. She was very excited about the City connect back pack and the ball! 

The Dobnak experiment can end any day now. Still the same guy without an out pitch. 

The first 2 innings took forever to finish. 

[David HK]

Go Twinkies!

Another good day at the old ball yard!

I'll see them tomorrow in Chicago! 🐻

I sure hope my new GF can come, too! 😂

[D.C Twins]

The White Sox: Good for what ails you!

This lineup is looking very dangerous full strength.

We might end up seriously regretting that we did not bolster our bullpen at the trading deadline (unless some SP convert for playoff time and do well)

[JD-TWINS]

Paddack - Varland - Topa - Stewart in the weeds for bullpen help ………no deadline regrets. Richards is serviceable as an 8th guy. Not his issue Okert - Dobnak - Thielbar are also in the Pen. He’s a number 8 guy and he’s currently number 5 or 6 in the Twin’s pen.

Really hope Festa shows up as competitive for 5 innings tomorrow! NEED innings.

Dobnak is not the answer …….,cement mixer sliders at 83mph and change ups that are thigh high…….no real pitch he can get by anybody. Scary!!!

What’s wrong with Henriquez?

Festa - Lopez - Ryan in Chicago………off day Thursday ……….SWR & Ober on Friday - Festa on Saturday - Ryan can’t go Sunday on 3 days rest - VARLAND?……make sense?

[Hubie29]

Magic Number for White Sox to be eliminated:  9

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Sweep is welcome and needed.

 

I had the same thoughts on Benintendi. A manager can't let that level of indifference fester. Thats not major league by either the player or the manager. Benintendi should absolutely have been pulled on thdat lazy double, if not before. Ridiculous.

Its obvious Benintendi is completely uninterested in putting in even minimal effort.  He's just showing up for the paycheck.

[Blyleven2011]

A win is a win ...

Double digit win too  ...

It wasn't the prettiest win but it sure was a nice win and a series sweep ...

Momentum  booster  , incredible  what royce keeps doing  , 

I wonder if he drives  a Rolls Royce  or has a driver drive him around ( hes earning that prestige )  , if he could please stay healthy what a career he is going to have , he produces in the lineup and in the dugout  ... 

He has yet to play a full season of games combined ( 103 in career ) but his projection from those total stats could be simply amazing  if he stayed healthy for a full year , 

 STAY HEALTHY ROYCE , PLEASE   ...

[mikelink45]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Sweep is welcome and needed.

 

I had the same thoughts on Benintendi. A manager can't let that level of indifference fester. Thats not major league by either the player or the manager. Benintendi should absolutely have been pulled on that lazy double, if not before. Ridiculous.

And who would you put in for him?  That is their conundrum.  

[mikelink45]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

My brother caught a foul ball today! So now my niece has her first ever MLB ball. She was very excited about the City connect back pack and the ball! 

The Dobnak experiment can end any day now. Still the same guy without an out pitch. 

The first 2 innings took forever to finish. 

You are so right. Dobnak here's a funny story and a wonderful guy, but this team needs to be going for the playoffs and beyond.  

[PuckettProtector]

Lewis is unfortunately going to spend the majority of his career on the DL.  That, or we trade him at mid value and he goes on to a HOF career.  

But man does he mash. It's just unbelievable to watch how he hits homers at will.   

Maybe seeing Spencer Steers progression on The Show has me more apprehensive than is justifiable in this case. 

But I feel as a tried and true Twins fan, we won't get the value we expected out of him, whether it be on the field or via a very difficult trade.  

Would love to be wrong.  

[Vanimal46]

I’m also proposing a new rule for Richards moving up 5 feet when he throws a curve ball. He just has to announce it first. 

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Paddack - Varland - Topa - Stewart in the weeds for bullpen help ………no deadline regrets. Richards is serviceable as an 8th guy. Not his issue Okert - Dobnak - Thielbar are also in the Pen. He’s a number 8 guy and he’s currently number 5 or 6 in the Twin’s pen.

Really hope Festa shows up as competitive for 5 innings tomorrow! NEED innings.

Dobnak is not the answer …….,cement mixer sliders at 83mph and change ups that are thigh high…….no real pitch he can get by anybody. Scary!!!

What’s wrong with Henriquez?

Festa - Lopez - Ryan in Chicago………off day Thursday ……….SWR & Ober on Friday - Festa on Saturday - Ryan can’t go Sunday on 3 days rest - VARLAND?……make sense?

Duh - Lopez should be ready to go by Sunday for the last game with Cleveland…..no need in near-term for Louie…..maybe on the Tuesday v. Royals though?

[Joe Schmitt]

I was at this game and it has been a long, long time since I've seen such poor quality of play.  The White Sox were awful in the field.  The Twins were better but that's a purely relative statement. Aside from Miranda (wow, some good plays at first!) and Buxton (I gave him a long standing ovation, what a great play) the Twins fielding was bad.

The pitchers were worse.  No one could throw strikes.  They threw wild pitches.  Balked multiple players over. Walked a player with the bases loaded.  Walked the #9 hitting multiple times.

What a terrible game.  I mean, glad the Twins won.  But I need a chaser after that game.

[mnfireman]

16 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Duh - Lopez should be ready to go by Sunday for the last game with Cleveland…..no need in near-term for Louie…..maybe on the Tuesday v. Royals though?

Double dip on Friday, probably Varland unless Paddack is ready to go.

[stringer bell]

Whatever the Twins can do to get their three best starters in line to pitch against Cleveland should be done. Festa, López and Ryan would be the scheduled starters vs. the Cubs, which would make it ??? and Ober on Friday, Festa on Saturday and López on Sunday against Cleveland. they could call up someone to start on Wednesday and save Ryan for Friday (with Ober).

[IaBeanCounter]

If the Twins win the division one of the factors will be the 12-1 record against the WS, Cle is 5-5 vs the WS with 3 games left in Chicago.  While this game was nerve racking, it may give the WS some confidence going forward, to play better.

[mnfireman]

7 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Whatever the Twins can do to get their three best starters in line to pitch against Cleveland should be done. Festa, López and Ryan would be the scheduled starters vs. the Cubs, which would make it ??? and Ober on Friday, Festa on Saturday and López on Sunday against Cleveland. they could call up someone to start on Wednesday and save Ryan for Friday (with Ober).

Ryan and Ober should not pitch on the same day (Friday) since there is no day off until the 22nd. The team would need a BP game sometime during the KC series, probably started by Dobnak.

[darwin22]

4 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Sweep is welcome and needed.

 

I had the same thoughts on Benintendi. A manager can't let that level of indifference fester. Thats not major league by either the player or the manager. Benintendi should absolutely have been pulled on that lazy double, if not before. Ridiculous.

For a guy making $17m this year and next you'd expect a professional effort.  Not good

[USAFChief]

28 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Whatever the Twins can do to get their three best starters in line to pitch against Cleveland should be done. Festa, López and Ryan would be the scheduled starters vs. the Cubs, which would make it ??? and Ober on Friday, Festa on Saturday and López on Sunday against Cleveland. they could call up someone to start on Wednesday and save Ryan for Friday (with Ober).

They can start SWR and Ober for Friday's games, Festa Saturday, and Lopez Sunday, if they want.

They'd have Ryan Monday in KC, but nobody for Tuesdays game.

Or, they can bring up a spot starter for Friday's doubleheader using the 27th man. I suspect they take this route. It keeps the rotation sort of intact, and makes best use of the 27th man. If they use 2 regular starters for the doubleheader they'll need someone else outside the rotation to start a game against KC anyway.  Might as well do that when you have an extra roster spot that won't require roster manipulation 

 

[TheLeviathan]

If Rocco wasn't an automaton who foolishly ignores the logic of "Get ridiculously angry and yell lots = wins".....we'd have won this game.

Rocco decided sugar should be bad for human health but taste so damn good.

[bean5302]

Eh, people are sure being hard on Dobnak here. I don't think there's a lot you can take away from 10 batters faced. Need a little more data on it.

[David Maro]

Hopefully Festa watched how not to pitch.When you walk 15 hitters,6 by your team and 9 by their team its bad.

Sorry but Dobnak is a St Paul Saint only.You can't go 3-2 to every hitter without getting into trouble.It does look like Topa will be ready for Cleveland,so Dobnak will be back to the Saints.

 

[Dman]

8 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Eh, people are sure being hard on Dobnak here. I don't think there's a lot you can take away from 10 batters faced. Need a little more data on it.

I agree, but yesterday I felt embarrassed for him.  Multiple non competitive pitches a foot off the plate.  Walking the number 9 batter. When he went in zone he got crushed and he couldn't even finish his inning and had to be replaced. If it's gonna take the level of smoke and mirrors it looks like it is going to take he's not gonna make it at the MLB level. 

I will say every reliever has their bad outing.  Jax and Duran have walked guys and been punished for it.  Alcala got hit yesterday. Bad outings happen.  Maybe he was too jacked up and over throwing or mentally just not focused enough.  Whatever the case he won't survive many more outings like that with the Twins in a playoff race.  He needs to prove he belongs and that outing against essentially a AAA club did not help him at all.

[jorgenswest]

11 hours ago, USAFChief said:

They can start SWR and Ober for Friday's games, Festa Saturday, and Lopez Sunday, if they want.

They'd have Ryan Monday in KC, but nobody for Tuesdays game.

Or, they can bring up a spot starter for Friday's doubleheader using the 27th man. I suspect they take this route. It keeps the rotation sort of intact, and makes best use of the 27th man. If they use 2 regular starters for the doubleheader they'll need someone else outside the rotation to start a game against KC anyway.  Might as well do that when you have an extra roster spot that won't require roster manipulation 

 

Can they option Wood Richardson and then bring him back as the 27th man on Friday? I know there is a 15 day rule but I think there is an exception for injury or 27th man. If that is the case they could consider bringing up Varland to start Wednesday. They would need to believe that the success he has had in his last four starts (22 2/3 IP, 13H, 27K, 9BB).

• wed - Varland
• fri - Ryan/Woods Richardson 
• sat - Ober
• sun - Lopez
• mon - Festa
• tue - Varland

The result would be there best three starters lined up against Cleveland. They would need to give Varland another start over Woods Richardson against Texas. I am not sold that giving a pitcher an extra day or rest or even skipping a start has any lasting impact but there would be an extra day or two for Ryan and Ober and longer rest for Woods Richardson.

Can they manipulate the 27th man in this way? Should they?

Edit: this doesn’t work for Varland. He pitched Saturday. They would have to do a bullpen day or bring up someone like Plutko for Wednesday to get the top 3 against Cleveland.

 

[Doctor Gast]

Dobber has been an effective boring GB pitcher for the Twins. '21 going into spring training after acquiring super-hyped Happ & Shumaker, the Dobber wasn't expected to make the rotation. But Dobber picked up a different slider & was striking out batters left & right leaving spring training as the most effective SP & a new contract. The old Dobber was perfectly fine by manufacturing GBs & not giving up HRs. But a lot of the ABs were long because he had trouble putting away hitters & they kept fouling off pitches. This new pitch would revolutionize Dobber by drastically cutting down pitches with occasionally working in the new slider in these ABs for SOs. Here the Twins decided to transform Dobber into something he wasn't, a SO SP. Throwing that new slider most of the time before he had total command of it & with added pressure on his middle finger he started to hang them, & eventually really screwing up his finger.

IMO they are still trying to make him into a SO SP. He might be able to SO AAA hitters on that pitch but the MLBer aren't biting. They should let Dobber be the Dobber as boring as that may be.

[DJL44]

32 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Can they option Wood Richardson and then bring him back as the 27th man on Friday? I know there is a 15 day rule but I think there is an exception for injury or 27th man. If that is the case they could consider bringing up Varland to start Wednesday. They would need to believe that the success he has had in his last four starts (22 2/3 IP, 13H, 27K, 9BB).

• wed - Varland
• fri - Ryan/Woods Richardson 
• sat - Ober
• sun - Lopez
• mon - Festa
• tue - Varland

The result would be there best three starters lined up against Cleveland. They would need to give Varland another start over Woods Richardson against Texas. I am not sold that giving a pitcher an extra day or rest or even skipping a start has any lasting impact but there would be an extra day or two for Ryan and Ober and longer rest for Woods Richardson.

Can they manipulate the 27th man in this way? Should they?

They can send Dobnak down any time they want a different pitcher. Varland on Friday is likely.