Twins 8, White Sox 3: Twins Finally Break Through for a Win!

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (82 Pitches, 51 Strikes, 62%)
Home Runs: Harrison Bader (2)
Top 3 WPA: Ty France (.168), Jose Miranda (.165), Edouard Julien (.118)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins needed to get off to a hot start on a cold 42° evening on the South Side of Chicago. The wind was blowing fiercely "in," and the offenses were going to face an uphill battle against the conditions. With the Twins coming into the game unable to score in their last 14 innings, the incline seemed overwhelming.

Rookie right-hander Shane Smith kicked off the tundra game with a walk to Matt Wallner, and a two-out Trevor Larnach bloop single put runners at the corners for Ryan Jeffers. The rookie caught Jeffers looking on a perfect down-and-away slider to end the threat, though, and he'd keep the Twins bats frozen in Smith's MLB debut.

Simeon Woods Richardson came into Tuesday night's contest as the only Twins starter who hadn't gotten a chance in the 2025 season, and no one could have imagined just how much pressure he would be facing to get the Twins into the win column after a brutal opening week on the road. Nick Maton worked another lead-off walk on a full count, and Twins fans held their collective breath as the powerful Luis Robert strode to the plate. A strike-em-out, throw-em-out, later, Woods Richardson and fans could breathe easy again.

Here We Go Again?
The Twins went down in order with three feeble groundouts to start the second inning, The White Sox decided that one good inning by a Twins starting pitcher was enough, as Andrew Benintendi whiffle-balled a 75-mph floater to the outfield, and scampered to third on a single up the middle by Lenyn Sosa. Brooks Baldwin hit a pop fly toward the net in foul territory in left field, and Larnach had it bounce off his glove as he collided with the net. One pitch later, it was 1-0 White Sox on another single up the middle. Woods Richardson left the ducks on the pond from there, but once again, the Twins found themselves looking up at their opponent in the early innings.

The Twins got another Wallner walk with one out in the top of the third inning, but Correa's subsequent chopper turned into a slick double play to end the threat before it could begin. That made it 17 consecutive Twins scoreless innings, and counting...

Facemasks and Flailing Bats
As Smith continued to stare down the Twins, he had easy targets. Most of the hitters were using full facemasks to battle the cold, but their eyes told the story. Searching, desperate, and disappointed. Byron Buxton's eyes thought that he had ended the futility streak with a blast to left, but the cruel wind brought the ball gently back into the field of play as a harmless fly ball. Four exit velocities of 100-110 mph in a row, with nothing to show for it as the fourth inning came and went as the previous 17 had gone. But was this a sign of joy to come as the game progressed?

Turns out that it was a sign of White Sox exit velocities to come, as Sosa raked a double to right in the bottom of the fourth to advance Benintendi yet again to third base with only one out. Woods Richardson's pitch count climbed with each full-count offering to Baldwin, and the 78th pitch resulted in a sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the game, and a 2-0 White Sox lead.

Bullpen Time! Any Relief for the Twins?
Rocco Baldelli elected to pull Woods Richardson before the third time through the order. Maton greeted Louis Varland rudely, by crushing a solo home run straight through my "wind blowing in" argument to make it 3-0 after five innings. Meanwhile, Smith just kept his unorthodox dealing, mixing his curves, changeups, and fastballs to frustrate the top of the Twins lineup in the top of the sixth. A couple of two-out walks to Buxton and Larnach gave the Twins a brief glimpse of hope, however, and more importantly, they sent Smith to the bench.

New pitcher Penn Murfee came in to face the tying run in Jeffers, This time, Jeffers delivered a line-drive single to the right-center gap to plate Buxton and keep the inning alive. Ty France was next man up, and after flailing pitifully on two sweepers, France swung mightily to line a single up the middle to plate Larnach and pull the Twins within a run on this two-out rally. Willi Castro did what Willi Castro does and took one for the team on the first pitch, and thus, Edouard Julien became the man of the season with the bases loaded and two out.

Julien proved to be a worthy Canadian import, as he stone-cold tied the game with an opposite-field single to left. It was a 3-3 ballgame! The much-maligned Jose Miranda then came up with the bases still loaded, Murfee on the ropes, and Miranda delivered the knockout... bloop. 5-3 Twins!

What happened next might matter most in the grand scheme of the 2025 season. With runners on the corners and two outs, Baldelli left in Wallner to face the new left-handed reliever Fraser Ellard. After falling behind in a 1-2 count, Baldelli then sent the runners in an attempt to catch the White Sox off guard. Did they not trust Wallner to put the ball in play? Were they hoping to catch Ellard by surprise and induce a balk or wild pitch? At first glance, the joy that came with avoiding the pinch-hit move got swept away by a questionable strategy decision. Stay tuned to the post-game interview for more insight into the "why" behind both moves. Let's not dwell on it now, instead let's delight in A LEAD!!!

Any Momentum Left?
Cole Sands won the bottom of the sixth, and Wallner got his rematch with Ellard to start the seventh. Wallner walked yet again, albeit on a pitch that would have been strike three in spring training thanks to the electronic zone. Carlos Correa came up next and took strike one, about 6 inches off the plate, before flying out harmlessly for the first out. Buxton followed suit, which set up another early-season managerial litmus test. Larnach stayed in the game to face the lefty. In this sample size, Larnach's strikeout doesn't look great. The trend of sticking with the lefty-on-lefty match-up is worth watching as the first weeks continue, though.

Jorge Alcalá got the bottom of the seventh, and he showed that his outing goes much better when he's not taking a rocket line drive off of his pitching arm. The Twins got the top of the eighth rolling with another Jeffers single and a France walk. After a Castro popout, left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert entered the game and the "we don't pinch hit anymore" streak ended at Julien, as Mickey Gasper entered the game as the new DH—and promptly struck out swinging. More managerial decision data to ponder as Julien isn't given a chance to repeat his RBI from earlier in the game, and the Twins looked to their bullpen stars to collect six more outs to preserve the first win of the season.

This Ends Well...Right?
Griffin Jax got the call in the eighth to face the heart of the White Sox order. In Jax's first outing since serving up a homer on Opening Day, he struck out Robert, surrendered a single to Andrew Vaughn on a full count, and gave up a 33.8 mph infield single against the shift to find himself with runners at first and second with only one out. 

With Miguel Vargas at the plate, and anxiety rising in hearts across Twins Territory, Correa reminded everyone why his glove has bits of gold AND platinum on it.

Jax took those heroics and ran with it, striking out the previously red-hot Sosa to end the threat for good.

Eisert stayed in to face Wallner in the top of the ninth, and Wallner stayed in to face Eisert. This time the confidence was rewarded with a bloop "double" down the left field line, thanks to the hustling lumberlack's effort. With a chance to build the lead against new reliever Jordan Leisure, Correa went down looking. Buxton, however, showed that Wallner wasn't the only speedster on the roster, as he hit a tailor-made grounder to Baldwin—who chose to look the runner back to second instead of throwing really hard and quickly because Buxton is fast. 

Harrison Bader, who replaced Larnach defensively in the bottom of the seventh inning, came to the plate for his first at-bat of the night with two on and one out. Four pitches later, it was nobody on, one baseball out in the bullpen, and an 8-3 Twins lead!

Bader's blast turned a nail-biting ninth into a Danny Coulombe mop-up outing, and the White Sox were the ones left flailing as the last out was recorded for the first Twins win of 2025.

What’s Next: Pablo Lopez (0-1, 3.60 ERA) looks to deliver the first series win of the season against righty Sean Burke (1-0, 0.00 ERA) in yet another day game. Can they snap this season's current mid-day curse and head home on a roll? After scoring six runs in the first 81 innings, the Twins closed out Tuesday's game with eight runs in four innings. What version of the Twins offense will take the field Wednesday? First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart: