White Sox 3, Twins 2: Solid Pitching, Same Result: Another Series Slips Away

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober - 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (80 pitches, 53 strikes (72% strikes))
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Kaelen Culpepper (-0.17); Brooks Lee (-0.15), Royce Lewis (-0.08)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins set out to try and get the same momentum during the day game on Saturday that they had Friday night. 

Bailey Ober, much like his teammate Dean Kremer, had a little trouble finding the strike zone early. He walked the first two hitters, and then Andrew Benintendi dropped a weak single that the infield couldn’t quite handle. The misplay allowed Sam Antonacci to come around and score, giving the White Sox an early 1-0 lead.

Ober eventually got his wits about him and escaped the inning, but the White Sox made him work, driving his pitch count all the way up to 28 pitches in the first. Not exactly the start you draw up.

The Twins offense, however, wasted no time answering back. Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee created some traffic for White Sox starter Erik Fedde, and then Fedde made a mistake at the wrong time. An 88-mph changeup landed right in Josh Bell’s sweet spot, and Bell sent a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Keaschall and tie things up at 1-1.

Ober came back out for the second looking much more like himself, making quick work of the bottom of the White Sox lineup with a clean 1-2-3 inning.

Then the Twins bats got rolling.

Trevor Larnach fell victim to a force out, but Kaelen Culpepper and Victor Caratini followed with line drives into the right-field gap, putting runners on the corners for rookie Walker Jenkins. And Jenkins? He was ready for the moment.

The rookie grounded to second for a fielder's choice. He hustled out of the box and easily beat the return throw to first base which allowed to score Culpepper. It also marked the first RBI of Jenkins career. The 21-year-old decided he wasn't done making noise, taking advantage of Fedde's timing to swipe his first stolen base.

After two innings, the Twins had flipped the script and taken a 2-1 lead.

The White Sox came alive in the fourth inning and said, “Not so fast.”  A leadoff double by Benintendi set the tone, and a bobbled slow roller by Culpepper off the bat of Chase Meidroth brought Benintendi home. Just like that, a 2-2 ballgame.

Ober’s day was officially done after five innings and 80 pitches. Andrew Morris came in to relieve him, but apparently nobody had informed him that Andrew Benintendi was having the game of his life. Like the pitchers before him—and frankly, like everyone for the previous five innings—Morris couldn't get around Benintendi's bat, surrendering a solo home run that gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead. As Derek Shelton noted after the game. It was a 95-mph cutter, three-to-four inches below the zone. All you can do is tip your cap to the cagey veteran. 

AJ Minter replaced Morris in the eighth, and with one out and two runners on, Benintendi stepped back into the box already 3-for-3 on the day. Naturally, that looked terrifying. But Minter said, not today. He struck Benintendi out, becoming the first Twins pitcher to retire him all afternoon. A much-needed out was followed by a smothered ball from Culpepper to Lee to end the inning and finally give Minnesota a chance to breathe.

Unfortunately, the Twins offense spent the seventh and eighth innings doing what it had become far too comfortable doing: absolutely nothing. Every opportunity was squandered, every hit seemed to find a glove, and no matter how much the pitching staff tried to keep the Twins within striking distance, the offense remained on life support. One inning remained. One last chance to wake up.

Yoendrys Gómez replaced Minter as the insurance policy—the guy brought in to make sure the White Sox didn't add anything the Twins couldn't overcome. He did his job.

The offense, however?

Yeah... they never woke up.

Maybe Sunday?

What’s Next?
The Twins finish their second day game with the White Sox on Sunday 1:10 CST. The Twins will send Zebby Matthews (8-8, 4.86 ERA,) against a pitcher the White Sox will determine later. 

 

Postgame Interviews 

Bullpen Availability Chart 

 

View full article

[D.C Twins]

"We need to buy and not sell at the deadline because we are going to play meaningful September baseball!" (checks notes.)....  ummmm. errrr... never mind.... didn't even make it to September.... 

Soooooo predictable

I'm honestly fired up to see Culpepper and Jenkins... I just wish that I didn't have to see Jeffers and Larnach first and be reminded that the Twins inexplicably didn't trade them.

[LastOnePicked]

Do they know that it's legal in MLB to score runs after the second inning? Maybe Shelton should clarify this in a pregame meeting tomorrow, just to be sure. There are a few young players on the team.

[ashbury]

Message to the Twins 26-man roster, who are the only ones who can fix things now: "Tick Tock, My Friends."

[Glorybound]

Stick a fork in em they are done. Time to call up the prospects and find out what you have for next year. I am not disappointed with what they did at the deadline but it’s time to evaluate what you have and make a plan for the future. They need to make some real moves this offseason to address there shortcomings. Any player on this roster is tradeable if the right deal comes along. 

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

"We need to buy and not sell at the deadline because we are going to play meaningful September baseball!" (checks notes.)....  ummmm. errrr... never mind.... didn't even make it to September.... 

Soooooo predictable

I'm honestly fired up to see Culpepper and Jenkins... I just wish that I didn't have to see Jeffers and Larnach first and be reminded that the Twins inexplicably didn't trade them.

They explained.  😁

[SE23]

There's no excuse to keep Erod in St Paul. Heck, bring up GG and Mendez too. This Twins offense has a long way to go to reach mediocrity...

[PuckettPond]

Time to bring up Erod and play Buxton @ Left Bench. Out with the old in with the new!

[thelanges5]

Ownership and the front office bet on the players and lost. Buck and Ryan have been ineffective and injured, Jeffers and Larnach have been bad with bat and glove, Keaschall good bat/bad glove, Morris/Prielipp/Kremer/Gómez/Fundy have stumbled, Culpepper and Jenkins called up too late, Bell has faded, Clemens and Lee are inconsistent. The list goes on. Fun season but hard to see an optimistic path forward for 26. Time to start thinking and making moves for 27 and beyond.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

 The Twins top 3 batting average leaders* are Gabriel Gonzalez, Walker Jenkins, and Kaalen Culpepper. Neither of the three have had enough at-bats to be anywhere near qualifying, but it is interesting. Alex Jackson is number 4 FWIW.

*do not qualify

[Mike Sixel]

Lee is going to put up 2.5 fwar even with the fiasco defense at short.... And people keep complaining about him. 

I'd love Buxton to get his surgery sooner rather than later..... And call up Rodriguez. I see no good way to move on from anyone else at this point. Alas.

[Hunter4848]

2 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Lee is going to put up 2.5 fwar even with the fiasco defense at short.... And people keep complaining about him. 

I'd love Buxton to get his surgery sooner rather than later..... And call up Rodriguez. I see no good way to move on from anyone else at this point. Alas.

Lee has been a very pleasant suprise

[LastOnePicked]

2 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Ownership and the front office bet on the players and lost.

Looking at a team that went 70-92, lost their SS and their entire bullpen and added nothing in the offseason and thinking, "We can bring all this back next year and be a winner" is a delusion/blunder so great that it deserves to be studied in college classrooms.

We've all been over this, I know. It's a dead horse, I know. But some of us saw this coming back in the wintertime, and we're wondering why the rest of you didn't. The Twins are undoubtedly in a worse place moving forward than they needed to be.

[HerbieFan]

Minnesota sports fans being Minnesota sports fans.  Same people complaining about them adding at the deadline are probably the same people who would have been complaining if the didn't.

This team overachieved for 120 games.  They made a couple additions to try and reward the players on the roster for that.  I don't blame them for that.

The ship has sailed however so we move forward, and I'm looking forward to a month of seeing Jenkins, Culpepper, Keaschall, Lee, Lewis....Emmanuel Rodriguez after Sept. 1....give us a look at what the future holds.

[MeleMouth]

4 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Looking at a team that went 70-92, lost their SS and their entire bullpen and added nothing in the offseason and thinking, "We can bring all this back next year and be a winner" is a delusion/blunder so great that it deserves to be studied in college classrooms.

We've all been over this, I know. It's a dead horse, I know. But some of us saw this coming back in the wintertime, and we're wondering why the rest of you didn't. The Twins are undoubtedly in a worse place moving forward than they needed to be.

The Twins went with this "play competitive baseball in September" story as a way to maintain fan interest, but right now they are 26th in MLB attendance, the lowest they have been in the 21st Century, ahead of only Athletics, Miami, Tampa, and Kansas City.

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

Minnesota sports fans being Minnesota sports fans.  Same people complaining about them adding at the deadline are probably the same people who would have been complaining if the didn't.

This team overachieved for 120 games.  They made a couple additions to try and reward the players on the roster for that.  I don't blame them for that.

The ship has sailed however so we move forward, and I'm looking forward to a month of seeing Jenkins, Culpepper, Keaschall, Lee, Lewis....Emmanuel Rodriguez after Sept. 1....give us a look at what the future holds.

Come on. About half this board said sell. This isn't hindsight. I blame them. It was a fool's quest, that cost them two legit prospects and the opportunity to add two or three more, at least.

[MeleMouth]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

This isn't hindsight. I blame them. It was a fool's quest, that cost them two legit prospects and the opportunity to add two or three more, at least.

This, except I think Sprock (132 wRC+ as a catcher at age 21 in Hi A) could also become a legit prospect who was traded for someone who will be superfluous to future teams and is almost superfluous now.

[D.C Twins]

33 minutes ago, ashbury said:

They explained.  😁

Touche!

[RpR]

[DJL44]

33 minutes ago, Glorybound said:

Stick a fork in em they are done. Time to call up the prospects and find out what you have for next year. 

Well, call up the prospect at least. Buxton doesn’t have any reason to risk further injury. Have him take care of his hip and add Emmanuel Rodriguez to the roster.

I don’t see any other prospects worth calling up.

[D.C Twins]

19 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

Minnesota sports fans being Minnesota sports fans.  Same people complaining about them adding at the deadline are probably the same people who would have been complaining if the didn't.

This team overachieved for 120 games.  They made a couple additions to try and reward the players on the roster for that.  I don't blame them for that.

The ship has sailed however so we move forward, and I'm looking forward to a month of seeing Jenkins, Culpepper, Keaschall, Lee, Lewis....Emmanuel Rodriguez after Sept. 1....give us a look at what the future holds.

Nope.... there are a group of us who have been very consistent in our complaints.... receipts are all over TD from well before the trade deadline

Now if your complaint had been that we keep saying the same thing over and over again... and to get over it..... THAT would have been a valid point :)

[Wedman13]

27 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Ownership and the front office bet on the players and lost. Buck and Ryan have been ineffective and injured, Jeffers and Larnach have been bad with bat and glove, Keaschall good bat/bad glove, Morris/Prielipp/Kremer/Gómez/Fundy have stumbled, Culpepper and Jenkins called up too late, Bell has faded, Clemens and Lee are inconsistent. The list goes on. Fun season but hard to see an optimistic path forward for 26. Time to start thinking and making moves for 27 and beyond.

.....and this nails it.  Great post.  Many here questioned Pohlad, not the process.  Larnach, Jeffers, ryan and Buck should have been traded.  I don't care the return.   I'll get dislikes and could care less but give Ownership and Zoll credit because the fan base is probably like many on here, gleeman, etc that said Tom,  'you said go big or go home'.  They all felt 'going big' meant this year.  Wrong answer.....

[SE23]

26 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Lee is going to put up 2.5 fwar even with the fiasco defense at short.... And people keep complaining about him. 

I'd love Buxton to get his surgery sooner rather than later..... And call up Rodriguez. I see no good way to move on from anyone else at this point. Alas.

Lee is developing into the kind of every-day contributor that winning teams are built on. Because of sky-high expectations early in his career, some fans have written him off. He's unlikely to ever achieve star status, but if the Twins hoist a pennant or two between here and 2035, Brooks Lee will probably be in the middle of the celebration.

[LastOnePicked]

26 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

The Twins went with this "play competitive baseball in September" story as a way to maintain fan interest, but right now they are 26th in MLB attendance

It's almost like creating a plan for a championship is more important to fan enthusiasm than empty promises. Huh. Tom Pohlad will have to look into newfangled theories like this in the offseason.

[PuckettPond]

After that loss now Twin fans can watch the NDSU Bison win their 1st football game of the season! NDSU Bison football are America's Team.

[Saxophone Joe]

Crazy to think we had sole possession of the 3rd WC 8 nights ago. 1-7 since. Ballgame. 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Hunter4848 said:

Lee has been a very pleasant suprise

Im not suprised.

[Parfigliano]

26 minutes ago, PuckettPond said:

After that loss now Twin fans can watch the NDSU Bison win their 1st football game of the season! NDSU Bison football are America's Team.

Not in SD and probably many other places.

[Maybe Next Year]

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

"We need to buy and not sell at the deadline because we are going to play meaningful September baseball!" (checks notes.)....  ummmm. errrr... never mind.... didn't even make it to September.... 

Soooooo predictable

I'm honestly fired up to see Culpepper and Jenkins... I just wish that I didn't have to see Jeffers and Larnach first and be reminded that the Twins inexplicably didn't trade them.

Why bother trading them - it would just end up being another trade where we are on the losing end.  What are the number of good trades we have made in the past few years - perhaps 1 out of 10. 

[Andy MacPhail]

I've been hopeful, but after the lost series with the A's, it'd take a series win against CWS to regain my faith in them this season. It has been too little too late to over take the last season deadline & nothing burger offseason. It wasn't surprising they lost to CWS but for them to make a move this was the time.