White Sox 6, Twins 2: Walks and Mistakes Cost Twins Early in Disappointing Series Finale

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Box Score

SP: Simeon Woods Richardson - 2 2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K (67 pitches, 40 strikes (60% strikes))
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Simeon Woods Richardson (-0.28), Trevor Larnach (-0.06), Ryan Kreidler (-0.06)
Win Probability Chart

The Twins entered Thursday’s series finale against the White Sox desperately needing a bounce-back performance after getting blown out 15-2 the night before. Instead, another sloppy and frustrating afternoon pushed them further behind Chicago in the AL Central race.

After Kendry Rojas was scratched roughly an hour before first pitch with elbow soreness, Simeon Woods Richardson was forced into an unexpected start. The Twins never found much rhythm offensively behind him, while Chicago capitalized on walks and mistakes throughout the afternoon to hand Minnesota a disappointing 6-2 loss and a three-out-of-four series defeat.

The loss dropped the Twins to 27-30 on the season.

WALKS AND MISTAKES PROVE COSTLY EARLY
For a brief moment, it looked like Woods Richardson might settle in nicely despite the late change.

The right-hander struck out Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami to begin the bottom of the first. After getting ahead of Miguel Vargas 0-2, he appeared on the verge of a clean opening inning. Instead, Vargas worked a two-out walk, stole second base, and quickly came around to score when Colson Montgomery ripped a single back up the middle to give Chicago an early 1-0 lead.

Minnesota’s defense helped Woods Richardson escape additional trouble in the inning, with Orlando Arcia making a sliding stop at second base to rob Chase Meidroth of a hit, but the warning signs were already there.

After working around a leadoff double from Tristan Peters in the second inning, Woods Richardson completely unraveled in the third. Murakami drew a one-out walk, Montgomery singled for his second hit of the afternoon, and another walk to Meidroth loaded the bases with two outs. Peters then beat out a softly hit infield single to plate a run, before Randal Grichuk delivered the big blow. After getting a fastball at the bottom of the zone, Grichuk ripped a liner into right field that cleared the bases and stretched the White Sox lead to 5-0.

All five runs charged to Woods Richardson scored after walks extended innings, once again highlighting the issue that has consistently haunted the Twins’ pitching staff throughout the season. He exited after just 2 2/3 innings.

DAVIS MARTIN COMPLETELY SHUTS DOWN THE TWINS
While Minnesota’s pitching staff battled command issues, White Sox starter Davis Martin looked completely locked in from the opening inning. Martin retired the first six Twins hitters he faced and needed only 23 pitches to get through the opening two frames. Even when Minnesota finally generated a little traffic in the third inning, Martin calmly worked through it.

Tristan Gray recorded the Twins’ first hit of the afternoon with a single up the middle in the third. He later stole second base, and Byron Buxton followed with a walk to put two runners aboard. Martin responded by getting Brooks Lee to ground out and end the inning. That sequence ended up being one of Minnesota’s better opportunities against him all afternoon.

The Twins managed just three hits through Martin’s six innings of work, while repeatedly falling behind in counts and struggling to generate consistent hard contact. He retired the side in order four separate times and finished six dominant innings on only 84 pitches.

Minnesota finally scratched across its first run in the fifth inning after Arcia worked a leadoff walk and Gray doubled off the right field wall. Ryan Kreidler followed with a groundout that brought home Arcia and cut the deficit to 6-1, but the Twins were going to need a lot more than that.

Even when Josh Bell snapped an 0-for-14 skid with an automatic double in the seventh inning, the Twins could only manufacture a sacrifice fly from Victor Caratini before the inning ended.

The eighth inning briefly offered another opportunity after Buxton singled and Lee reached on an error, but Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens both struck out swinging to strand the runners and effectively end any hopes of a comeback.

THE TWINS NEVER RECOVER AFTER ANOTHER SLOPPY PERFORMANCE
Minnesota’s pitching staff settled down after Woods Richardson’s rough third inning, but the damage had already been done.

Andrew Morris struck out the side in the fourth despite allowing an unearned run after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt helped set up another Chicago score. Travis Adams bounced back from a difficult outing the night before with a clean fifth inning, while Taylor Rogers, Anthony Banda, and Yoendrys Gómez combined to keep the White Sox quiet over the final three innings. But the Twins’ offense simply never gave them much of a chance.

Gray finished with two of Minnesota’s five hits, while Buxton, Bell, and Caratini accounted for the others. Outside of a few isolated moments, the lineup struggled to put together any sustained pressure against Chicago's pitching.

After entering the series just a half-game behind the White Sox in the division standings, the Twins now leave Chicago having dropped three of four games to a divisional team directly ahead of them in the AL Central. And after an ugly blowout loss Wednesday night, Thursday’s frustrating finale only made an already disappointing series feel even worse.

What’s Next?
The Twins continue their road drop this weekend, as they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates in a three-game series starting tomorrow. Taj Bradley is lined up to start for the Twins, and right-hander Jared Jones will make his season debut for Pittsburgh. First pitch is set for 5:45 PM CT, on Apple TV+.

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon!

Bullpen Availability Chart

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Rojas	45	0	0	0	0	0	45
Orze	0	10	0	0	29	0	39
Gómez	0	22	0	18	0	17	40
Morris	32	0	0	8	0	29	40
Rogers	6	13	0	16	0	7	35
Woods Richardson	0	0	35	0	0	67	35
Adams	0	1	0	0	33	12	46
Banda	0	10	0	10	0	14	20

 

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[Vanimal46]

Twins batter splits in the past 7 days:

Clemens - 7 GP - 29 AB - .545 OPS
Bell - 7 GP - 24 AB - .352 OPS
Kreidler - 7 GP - 19 AB - .474 OPS
Martin - 6 GP - 25 AB - .680 OPS 

When Orlando Arcia is your hottest hitter over the past week, you're gonna have a really tough time. 

[Patzky]

Playing against good teams like the Brewers and White Sox tell us who we are, but we like the answers better when we play doormats like Detroit, Boston and Houston. 

Here's to doormats.

[JD-TWINS]

Monday 1 run in 9 innings

Tuesday 2 runs in 10 innings

Wednesday 2 runs in 9 innings

Thursday 2 runs in 9 innings

The defense and Bullpen can’t make up for no run production!

[hitterscount]

For a brief moment I was under the misguided belief that this team could contend for one of the wild card spots. I still believe that the rotation is sold, minus SWR who should not be on the team, however they have multiple everyday players that should be hanging out with SWR down in Ft. Myers or the unrestricted FA window. Carrying 4 light hitting utility guys that you routinely count on in the starting lineup that can't hit there way out of a wet paper bag is bad roster management.... I will say Clemens would have value if he was limited to 2-4 starts a week. Bell, useless, Caratini, pretty much useless although acceptable if Jeffers was healthy so I won't include him. Outman useless... Larnach seems like he believes that he is untouchable now that Wallner was sent out. I have always believed he was better than Wallner, but he has stopped hitting and is limited defensively. It's not the pitching that knocked me in the head to bring me back to reality, it's the fact this lineup doesn't make much contact, strikes out too much, little power (which is fine if you can hit, advance runners, hit with RISP, etc..) still average at best defensively, and slow. They've exceeded my expectations, but the reality became clear this series that they won't compete against quality pitching, unless they get a shutout. On to the Pirate series, win one and that was what I was looking for on this 10 game road trip.

[Peter]

Not at all worried white sox are good young team!!! Lucky not to have got swept!!! Win series against Pittsburgh/payback with white Sox and go 3-1 against royals we will be over .500. 

[JD-TWINS]

33 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

For a brief moment I was under the misguided belief that this team could contend for one of the wild card spots. I still believe that the rotation is sold, minus SWR who should not be on the team, however they have multiple everyday players that should be hanging out with SWR down in Ft. Myers or the unrestricted FA window. Carrying 4 light hitting utility guys that you routinely count on in the starting lineup that can't hit there way out of a wet paper bag is bad roster management.... I will say Clemens would have value if he was limited to 2-4 starts a week. Bell, useless, Caratini, pretty much useless although acceptable if Jeffers was healthy so I won't include him. Outman useless... Larnach seems like he believes that he is untouchable now that Wallner was sent out. I have always believed he was better than Wallner, but he has stopped hitting and is limited defensively. It's not the pitching that knocked me in the head to bring me back to reality, it's the fact this lineup doesn't make much contact, strikes out too much, little power (which is fine if you can hit, advance runners, hit with RISP, etc..) still average at best defensively, and slow. They've exceeded my expectations, but the reality became clear this series that they won't compete against quality pitching, unless they get a shutout. On to the Pirate series, win one and that was what I was looking for on this 10 game road trip.

Same weak offense since mid-August of ‘24!

No appreciable changes - players then are still inconsistent (or just poor) now.

[JD-TWINS]

41 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

For a brief moment I was under the misguided belief that this team could contend for one of the wild card spots. I still believe that the rotation is sold, minus SWR who should not be on the team, however they have multiple everyday players that should be hanging out with SWR down in Ft. Myers or the unrestricted FA window. Carrying 4 light hitting utility guys that you routinely count on in the starting lineup that can't hit there way out of a wet paper bag is bad roster management.... I will say Clemens would have value if he was limited to 2-4 starts a week. Bell, useless, Caratini, pretty much useless although acceptable if Jeffers was healthy so I won't include him. Outman useless... Larnach seems like he believes that he is untouchable now that Wallner was sent out. I have always believed he was better than Wallner, but he has stopped hitting and is limited defensively. It's not the pitching that knocked me in the head to bring me back to reality, it's the fact this lineup doesn't make much contact, strikes out too much, little power (which is fine if you can hit, advance runners, hit with RISP, etc..) still average at best defensively, and slow. They've exceeded my expectations, but the reality became clear this series that they won't compete against quality pitching, unless they get a shutout. On to the Pirate series, win one and that was what I was looking for on this 10 game road trip.

Larnach walked with 2 outs in a PH role in Boston Series to put team ahead. 2 days ago he doubled in the first and then scored the first run of the game. His OBP is .381 going into today - hitting .267 with a .9 WAR through 1/3 of the season.

He’s easily the 3rd best performer at the plate this year - easily!

Let’s trade him and hope Emma can play, oh he’s hurt again & out for 3 months…….. because he’s an apparent rock head who slides into 1B head first.

Jenkins is 21 - not ready - and probably hurt. But by all means, trade Larnach because he’s arrogant after Wallner got demoted - great idea!

[Parfigliano]

47 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

For a brief moment I was under the misguided belief that this team could contend for one of the wild card spots. I still believe that the rotation is sold, minus SWR who should not be on the team, however they have multiple everyday players that should be hanging out with SWR down in Ft. Myers or the unrestricted FA window. Carrying 4 light hitting utility guys that you routinely count on in the starting lineup that can't hit there way out of a wet paper bag is bad roster management.... I will say Clemens would have value if he was limited to 2-4 starts a week. Bell, useless, Caratini, pretty much useless although acceptable if Jeffers was healthy so I won't include him. Outman useless... Larnach seems like he believes that he is untouchable now that Wallner was sent out. I have always believed he was better than Wallner, but he has stopped hitting and is limited defensively. It's not the pitching that knocked me in the head to bring me back to reality, it's the fact this lineup doesn't make much contact, strikes out too much, little power (which is fine if you can hit, advance runners, hit with RISP, etc..) still average at best defensively, and slow. They've exceeded my expectations, but the reality became clear this series that they won't compete against quality pitching, unless they get a shutout. On to the Pirate series, win one and that was what I was looking for on this 10 game road trip.

I still think TC will lose 90+ games.

[ashbury]

The Twins batters were overmatched by a starting pitcher who has come into his own.  This is Martin's 11th start this season and he has yet to have a complete clunker against anybody.  He's under team control through 2030.  I'm not looking forward to having to face him these next several years. 

And dang it, he was a 14th round draft pick in 2018.

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

I still think TC will lose 90+ games.

I’m still at about that point unless the disappointments bring their games up to expectations. To carry as weak a bat as Kreidler at short, the other eight hitters need to be far above average. IMHO, Kreidler is the only shortstop above A ball that profiles as average or above defensively.

Run scoring has been quite a ways above average, but when the team isn’t hitting (like right now) the team’s deficiencies show up too much to win games. 

[Vanimal46]

18 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

I still think TC will lose 90+ games.

Only way to reverse course is embracing the youth movement. Get Culpepper up ASAP. Call up Gonzalez to take over Bell’s spot as 1B/DH. Call up Jenkins and E-Rod if they’re ever healthy this season. 

[IndyTwinsFan]

25 minutes ago, ashbury said:

The Twins batters were overmatched by a starting pitcher who has come into his own.  This is Martin's 11th start this season and he has yet to have a complete clunker against anybody.  He's under team control through 2030.  I'm not looking forward to having to face him these next several years. 

And dang it, he was a 14th round draft pick in 2018.

And even if we had somehow drafted him, he would likely still be in AA trying to figure something out.  Because, you know, that's how TC operates. 

[IndyTwinsFan]

19 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Only way to reverse course is embracing the youth movement. Get Culpepper up ASAP. Call up Gonzalez to take over Bell’s spot as 1B/DH. Call up Jenkins and E-Rod if they’re ever healthy this season. 

Agree, but I don't expect that to ever happen.  This front office/ownership group will come up with some excuse for not doing that exact thing. 

[IndyTwinsFan]

44 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Larnach walked with 2 outs in a PH role in Boston Series to put team ahead. 2 days ago he doubled in the first and then scored the first run of the game. His OBP is .381 going into today - hitting .267 with a .9 WAR through 1/3 of the season.

He’s easily the 3rd best performer at the plate this year - easily!

Let’s trade him and hope Emma can play, oh he’s hurt again & out for 3 months…….. because he’s an apparent rock head who slides into 1B head first.

Jenkins is 21 - not ready - and probably hurt. But by all means, trade Larnach because he’s arrogant after Wallner got demoted - great idea!

Problem is, who would give up more than a bag of used balls for him?  Few, if any, teams would be my guess. 

[JD-TWINS]

23 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Only way to reverse course is embracing the youth movement. Get Culpepper up ASAP. Call up Gonzalez to take over Bell’s spot as 1B/DH. Call up Jenkins and E-Rod if they’re ever healthy this season. 

How about just not starting SWR, now 0-8 on the season. He gave Team a chance in maybe 2 of his starts. He had 2 decent relief appearances but they can’t piece together a fifth starter (consistently) so he goes out today after throwing relief on Monday.

7.69 ERA ……..if Team wins 2 of his starts they are a game over .500 right now.

E-Rod, thumb surgery, out through at least August.

Jenkins is hurt - not performing at a high level (been OK & spotty good) - he’s 21. No need to bring him up just because fans want him to be a star NOW.

[mikelink45]

This could have been the opportunity for SWR to assert himself.  He failed. 

[JD-TWINS]

8 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

Problem is, who would give up more than a bag of used balls for him?  Few, if any, teams would be my guess. 

117 OPS+ - .770 OPS - .9 WAR over 1/3 of season - BA 25 points higher than career average - 22 walks/29 K’s.

He sucks!

[Vanimal46]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

How about just not starting SWR, now 0-8 on the season. He gave Team a chance in maybe 2 of his starts. He had 2 decent relief appearances but they can’t piece together a fifth starter (consistently) so he goes out today after throwing relief on Monday.

 

The offense wasn’t supporting any starter in games he’s played in. Run support for SWR this season when he left the game:

1, 1, 4, 1, 0, 0, 2, 2, and 1 today. Prime Nolan Ryan ain’t winning jack squat with that run support. 

[karcherd]

10 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

How about just not starting SWR, now 0-8 on the season.

This was a self inflicted wound that did not need to happen.  They decided to push everybody back a day and than Rojas came up with the bad elbow, when their bullpen was already stretched.  Sim is our 6th starter especially if Rojas ends up on the IL.  They need to get some length out of guys in St. Paul to be ready if needed.

[Linus]

The most important aspect here is Rojas being hurt. Hopefully this isn’t serious but elbow pain is always scary. I think he was developing into a useful pitcher. 

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, Linus said:

The most important aspect here is Rojas being hurt. Hopefully this isn’t serious but elbow pain is always scary. I think he was developing into a useful pitcher. 

Really doesn’t help that pre-arb Louis Varland is the best reliever in baseball now…

[Permanent Twins Fan]

This should be S-W-R last start this season. The Twins have enough options. They don't need to give him any more starts. Try him in the bullpen either as a long relief or one inning guy. If that doesn't work out, DFA him. Someone will probably claim him, but I the Twins can't keep him around if he doesn't pan out in the bullpen. 

[karcherd]

6 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

This should be S-W-R last start this season. The Twins have enough options. They don't need to give him any more starts. Try him in the bullpen either as a long relief or one inning guy. If that doesn't work out, DFA him. Someone will probably claim him, but I the Twins can't keep him around if he doesn't pan out in the bullpen. 

Who else do they have if Rojas is hurt and needs to go on the IL.  Right now he is the 6th starter and there is no one ready in St. Paul.  So we are stuck right now until some guys get healthy.

[Vanimal46]

7 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

The Twins have enough options.

They do? Look at St Paul’s roster and report back. I don’t have an immediate solution for SWR but the Twins are one of the last teams in MLB to give up on a 25 year old SP. This isn’t a playoff contending team. 

[tony&rodney]

The recent series with the White Sox was Not a must win, nor was today's game. The Twins play tomorrow and the day after that and .....

Who exactly had the Twins anywhere near .500 baseball on June 1? It is true the offense needs a pick-me-up and it is also true the talent level is not to hot. The Twins are in most games and perhaps the offense comes around soon. The club is sorting through players, roles, and who plays where. I'm looking for a couple of changes by mid June. Teams generally do not trade this time of year but maybe something can happen. I would like the Twins to trade Wallner and/or Lewis for a competitive balance pick if that is possible.

[IndyTwinsFan]

45 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

117 OPS+ - .770 OPS - .9 WAR over 1/3 of season - BA 25 points higher than career average - 22 walks/29 K’s.

He sucks!

At best, he's a platoon player who has a bit of power, can't hit lefties well at all, and is defensively mediocre (at best) in the outfield.  Not a lot of demand for those types of players, especially with a salary north of $4 million.

[Linus]

30 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Really doesn’t help that pre-arb Louis Varland is the best reliever in baseball now…

I get it but I’m not worried about that right now. I think Rojas has the potential to be one of our better pitchers and don’t need to see him sidelined for 18 months with TJ. 

[Patzky]

41 minutes ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

This should be S-W-R last start this season. The Twins have enough options. They don't need to give him any more starts. Try him in the bullpen either as a long relief or one inning guy. If that doesn't work out, DFA him. Someone will probably claim him, but I the Twins can't keep him around if he doesn't pan out in the bullpen. 

The problem is we don't have enough options. Maybe Abel will be back by July. 

[JD-TWINS]

16 minutes ago, IndyTwinsFan said:

At best, he's a platoon player who has a bit of power, can't hit lefties well at all, and is defensively mediocre (at best) in the outfield.  Not a lot of demand for those types of players, especially with a salary north of $4 million.

His salary is almost free, unless one is a beaten down Twin’s fan and thinks everyone should play for the minimum.

He’s definitely a platoon! RH pitching throws 70-75% of the time. His defensive stats (in ‘26) are solid per analytics guys on this site a week ago. His .9 WAR at this point with some starts at DH show his defense can’t be weak or the WAR would reflect that.

Buxton is having a great year and so is Jeffers ………. they are at 2.0 & 1.7 WAR respectively.

Martin, his former platoon partner, has earned more playing time and has a 1.1 WAR.

Larnach is 4th on the club with a .9 WAR.

If the TWINS could sign 3-4 more guys for $4.5M and know they would be on pace for 2.7 WAR for the year, they’d do it in a heartbeat …….. & they would be in first place in the Division. They assumed Keaschall - Lewis & Wallner would have those numbers and it isn’t happening!