White Sox 3, Twins 1: Pitchers' Duels Sound Fun Until You Lose One

[Cory Moen]

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews - 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (88 pitches, 56 strikes (63.6% strikes))
Home Runs: Brooks Lee (6)
Bottom 3 WPA (via Fangraphs): Josh Bell (-0.13), Kody Clemens (-0.12), Zebby Matthews (-0.09)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Coming off a series sweep in Boston, the Twins were looking to continue their winning ways against the South Siders in Chicago—and trying to get back to .500. The Twins got on the board quickly on a Brooks Lee solo shot off lefty Anthony Kay in the first inning. 

In the bottom half of the first inning, White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami kept the impressive start to his Stateside career going, taking Zebby Matthews deep to tie the game on his 18th home run of the season.    

The Twins were able to get three hits in the top of the second, but were unable to score. Making his major-league debut, Rikuu Nishida, a second baseman by trade, showed off a pretty solid throwing arm, throwing out Orlando Arcia at the plate on an Alex Jackson single.

In the bottom of the second, the White Sox didn’t wait long to take a two-run lead. Drew Romo hit a two-run shot after Tristan Peters drew a four-pitch leadoff walk (those will haunt...) against Matthews. Both starting pitchers settled in, not giving up a run through the sixth inning. The bullpens took over from there.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Twins showed off some defense, with Arcia making a barehanded play off of a deflection and Austin Martin making a diving play in right field. Simeon Woods Richardson threw two scoreless innings in relief of Matthews, and notably, his fastball sat at 94.1 MPH, touching a tick higher. Woods Richardson's success in this new role hinges on throwing a bit harder because of the transition; he's doing that.

The Twins managed one hit in each of the final three innings off the White Sox bullpen, but were unable to string hits together to close the gap. Seranthony Domínguez closed the game out for the White Sox, securing his 11th save of the season. 

What’s Next?
The Twins and White Sox will face off again on Tuesday evening, in the second game of a four-game series. The pitching matchup will feature Joe Ryan (3-3, 3.02 ERA) facing off against Sean Burke (2-3, 4.08 ERA). Ryan is coming off three straight quality starts, and will be looking to continue his solid start to his season. In his most recent start, he threw six innings and gave up one run against the Houston Astros. 

Bullpen Usage Chart

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Gómez	0	13	0	22	0	35
Rojas	0	0	45	0	0	45
Morris	0	0	32	0	0	32
Adams	0	29	0	1	0	30
Banda	0	14	0	10	0	24
Orze	0	14	0	10	0	24
Rogers	0	0	6	13	0	19
Woods Richardson	0	0	0	0	35	35

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[Peter]

Crap loss💩🤮😡🤬😤👎need to get over.500 and stay there!!!

[MMMordabito]

Tough loss. The opportunities were there, but they came up short or the opposition executed. 

[Patzky]

14 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Tough loss. The opportunities were there, but they came up short or the opposition executed. 

Sox are good, we will just have to accept it. They aren't Tampa good but they are Cleveland or Oakland good 

[DocBauer]

Sure seems the offense, or lack of, lost this game.

But Matthews with ANOTHER solid start is VERY encouraging. We've been so wrapped up in watching Bradley, Abel, Prielipp, Morris, and Rojas that I think we haven't been paying close enough attention to the corner that Matthews seems to have turned. That's HUGE.

Sim with a solid finish to the game is also a positive. I still think his future is in the rotation...he's just NOT the pitcher we've seen this season...whether it's with us or someone else. But today was obviously a good step forward by him.

I just ALWAYS hate losing to the Dirty Sox more than almost anyone.

[Parfigliano]

Very quick game.

[Patzky]

11 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Very quick game.

Clean played really, decent pitching, some big hits not much intrigue after the second inning.

[thelanges5]

Matthews and SWR looked pretty good. Defense was improved. 

Batters 1-7 RISP, 8 LOB

[Patzky]

Jeez I hadn't realized the Sox have beaten us seven times in a row? Is this correct?

[mikelink45]

No one wins all the games - good effort on the mound and in the field.  Let's win tomorrow.

[JD-TWINS]

Quality start, even giving up 3 runs through 2 innings. SWR did a nice job. Both pitchers had a WHIP of 1.00…….struck out 7 over 8 innings.

Offense - 8 base runners through nine innings.

Can’t beat anyone scoring one run.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Sox are good, we will just have to accept it. They aren't Tampa good but they are Cleveland or Oakland good 

Sox are much BETTER but they aren’t Cleveland good……. Cleveland is 1/2 game behind Yankees and currently are 3rd in A.L. …  Sox didn’t score after the 2nd inning today.

Both Cleveland and Sox are a respectable 15-10 at home ……. The Sox are 11-14 on the road and Cleveland is 17-13 on the road.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Sox are much BETTER but they aren’t Cleveland good……. Cleveland is 1/2 game behind Yankees and currently are 3rd in A.L. …  Sox didn’t score after the 2nd inning today.

Both Cleveland and Sox are a respectable 15-10 at home ……. The Sox are 11-14 on the road and Cleveland is 17-13 on the road.

Not gonna betcha but betcha they're closer than five games back of Cleveland at All Star Break. I hope we're within ten. 

[thelanges5]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Quality start, even giving up 3 runs through 2 innings. SWR did a nice job. Both pitchers had a WHIP of 1.00…….struck out 7 over 8 innings.

Offense - 8 base runners through nine innings.

Can’t beat anyone scoring one run.

Historically, a team scoring only one run has only won 0.0229% of the time. 

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Jeez I hadn't realized the Sox have beaten us seven times in a row? Is this correct?

It is indeed correct. 

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Jeez I hadn't realized the Sox have beaten us seven times in a row? Is this correct?

Now I really hate em.

[Blyleven2011]

Nice day for a ballgame after a muddy mess in final game in Boston  ...

Starting pitching kept us in the game , patience and hitting just wasn't enough today ...

Get them tomorrow  , White Sox's are better than the pre-season's prediction  , they had a productive off season and added a couple of quality players ...

[Patzky]

3 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Nice day for a ballgame after a muddy mess in final game in Boston  ...

Starting pitching kept us in the game , patience and hitting just wasn't enough today ...

Get them tomorrow  , White Sox's are better than the pre-season's prediction  , they had a productive off season and added a couple of quality players ...

They're calling up a top pitching prospect tomorrow apparently. 

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Nice quality start for Zebby. Sim with a couple good innings. 

Offense couldn't get it done. 

May not have made a difference, but I wasnt too pleased with pinch hitting Caratini for the only guy with multiple hits today. Caratini is in such a bad slump right now. IMO he should take a break for 2/3 days and try to figure out what's going on. 

[Hashim]

5 hours ago, Patzky said:

Jeez I hadn't realized the Sox have beaten us seven times in a row? Is this correct?

Yes, unfortunately 😩

[twinfan]

Who are these Twins? They sweep Detroit then can't beat the Nationals. They sweep Boston at Fenway, then can't beat the Chisox. Who are they, really? 

[Old Twins Hat]

Gotta wonder about Matthews game plan.  Threw a ton of fastballs early, even when it seemed he didn't have good command of it.  And, predictably, gives up two dingers on inside fastballs.  Then realizes that the fastballs aren't playing and switches to off-speed, settles in and pitches an efficient six innings.

Was that the catcher's idea to try to dominate early with the heat?

Either way, a little different pitch selection and it could have been a different game.

Of course, Twins still got to hit the ball.  

[Patzky]

35 minutes ago, twinfan said:

Who are these Twins? They sweep Detroit then can't beat the Nationals. They sweep Boston at Fenway, then can't beat the Chisox. Who are they, really? 

I think we're finding out as much about who Detroit and Boston are.

[HarmonK03]

4 hours ago, Old Twins Hat said:

Gotta wonder about Matthews game plan.  Threw a ton of fastballs early, even when it seemed he didn't have good command of it.  And, predictably, gives up two dingers on inside fastballs.  Then realizes that the fastballs aren't playing and switches to off-speed, settles in and pitches an efficient six innings.

Was that the catcher's idea to try to dominate early with the heat?

Either way, a little different pitch selection and it could have been a different game.

Of course, Twins still got to hit the ball.  

The first home run hit was on his fifth pitch of the game.  You can't blame that on pitch selection.  Even in the second inning, Matthews like any pitcher was still figuring out what was working and what wasn't.  The last four innings he gave up no runs and we got only one run for him in the first inning.  Picking on his pitch selection seems a little unrealistic when you look at his whole game.

[ashbury]

10 hours ago, twinfan said:

Who are these Twins? They sweep Detroit then can't beat the Nationals. They sweep Boston at Fenway, then can't beat the Chisox. Who are they, really? 

Detroit is underperforming expectations, the Nationals lead the majors in run scoring (albeit in surrendering runs too).  The Red Sox are underperforming expectations, the White Sox are overachieving.  Twins' performance against them respectively seems basically congruent to me.

[DJL44]

A third of the season is complete. Buxton on pace for 48 HR