Twins Video
Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Sonny Gray, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (78 pitches, 45 strikes, 57.7%)
Home Runs: none
Top 3 WPA: Sonny Gray (.275), Griffin Jax (.116), Ryan Jeffers (.095)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs).png.3dff7d606303389bfbfcb4530cfab6ff.png)
Julien makes his big-league debut
The biggest story before this game was second baseman Édouard Julien being called up to the majors earlier today. With Joey Gallo being placed on the 10-day injury list, the Canadian infielder was hurried back to the Twin Cities from Indianapolis to join the Twins roster and make his big-league debut. His first at-bat came only in the third inning, as Lucas Giolito cruised through the first two innings. The at-bat was rather quick, with Julien grounding out after only two pitches.
But it wasn’t his first trip to the bat that caused some concern. In the top of the third, Andrew Benintendi hit a ground ball to right, towards Julien. The rookie infielder managed to get to the ball in time, but the ball just skidded under his glove to reach right field. It wasn’t ruled an error for him, but it was certainly a playable hit. Then, in the fifth inning, he made an awful throw to first base trying to pick off the runner, but fortunately, there were no repercussions. First-day jitters? We sure hope so.
Twins take the lead after a scary moment for Farmer
It was exactly after Julien’s first at-bat that things started to slip away from Giolito’s control. He gave up back-to-back singles, then loaded the bases by giving up a two-out walk to José Miranda. Nick Gordon flied out to center, and the Twins couldn’t capitalize on their first big threat, but some command problems by Giolito, combined with a few defensive mishaps by the White Sox defense, were about to give Minnesota its first lead shortly.
In the fourth inning’s first at-bat, Ryan Jeffers hit a bullet to deep right field, which possibly was playable for Gavin Sheets. However, the White Sox outfielder fell down and couldn’t make the play, allowing Jeffers to reach third. Then, with Kyle Farmer batting, Giolito badly misplaced a fastball and ended up hitting the Twins infielder right in the face. He left the game with what the Twins initially called a jaw injury.
Following that play, Julien made his second trip to the plate and took advantage of Giolito apparently still feeling shaken for hitting Farmer. The Chicago starter was all over the place during the at-bat, and Julien drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases again. Michael A. Taylor grounded out to first base, and the White Sox defense once again failed to field cleanly and, instead of turning a double play, allowed Jeffers to score from third.
Gray tosses five scoreless but doesn’t look sharp in the end
Making his third start of the season, Sonny Gray delivered another scoreless outing. However, he didn’t look as sharp as he did in his last time around when he pitched seven brilliant innings of one-run ball against the Astros on Friday. The White Sox put some pressure on him right out of the gate, with Luis Robert Jr. (double) and Andrew Vaughn (walk) both reaching in the first inning. He responded by retiring the next six batters he faced.
After giving up two more singles in the third, then throwing a 1-2-3 fourth, he seemed to have command issues during the fifth. He simply couldn't find the strike zone against Seby Zavala, giving up a leadoff walk. He did manage to retire the next three batters, but he struggled to throw strikes. At the end of the day, what matters the most is the fact that he kept Chicago scoreless, but it’s worth wondering why he was a bit off target during that inning. He was pulled after the fifth with only 78 pitches thrown, but also throwing less than 58% strikes.
Offense adds on, and the bullpen holds on tight
Coming into this game, the White Sox bullpen had the third-worst ERA in the majors, at 6.91. When Giolito departed the game after the sixth inning, the Twins' offense managed their first multi-hit inning since the third but failed to capitalize in the seventh. Byron Buxton was involved in a collision with infielder Lenyn Sosa and landed awkwardly in the inning’s final out.
But things were different in the bottom of the eighth. Jeffers hit a leadoff single and, a couple of at-bats later, was brought home by a Willi Castro double to right. Castro himself moved up to third on a Matt Wallner sac-fly, then scored on a Taylor bloop single to shallow center, making it 3-0 Twins.
Upon the departure of Gray, the Twins’ bullpen absolutely dominated Chicago’s lineup. Jorge Alcalá, Jorge López, and Griffin Jax tossed three scoreless innings on 39 pitches, allowing only one hit and one walk. With the run support provided in the eighth, Jhoan Durán came in to get the save. He did give up a leadoff single, taken care of by a double play, and then a two-out solo home run to Sosa, but eventually finished off the game with a groundout to earn his third save of the season.
Postgame interview
What’s Next?
Minnesota gets back on the road starting tomorrow for a four-game set against the New York Yankees in the Bronx. The first game of the series is scheduled for this Thursday (4/13) at 6:05 pm CDT, with Joe Ryan (2-0, 3.75 ERA) set to start the game for the Twins and Jhony Brito (2-0, 0.90 ERA) taking the mound for New York.
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
| SAT | SUN | MON | TUE | WED | TOT | |
| Alcalá | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 60 |
| Morán | 20 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 55 |
| Durán | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 15 | 42 |
| Jax | 12 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 32 |
| López | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 26 |
| Pagán | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Thielbar | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 14 |
| Sands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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