Game Thread: White Sox at Twins

Mendoza Line invitational: White Sox offense faces Festa’s fury

Well, dear readers, it looks like bullpen day is here, and it’s not likely to be a recipe for a win. With a decimated starting pitching staff, desperation calls on the Chicago armbarn for assistance.

Bryce Wilson gets the pill tonight in an effort to shoot for win No. 6. The righthander came to the White Sox as a free agent in the offseason. He pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers last year, amassing a 5-4 record with a 4.04 ERA over 34 games (nine starts). The 27-year-old has appeared in nine contests out of the pen for Chicago in 2025 and has a 4.50 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 12 innings of work.

Wilson will get absolutely no help at all from a lineup whose leadoff man is clubbing a whopping .182 and has an overall team BA of .201, which ranks them dead last in all of baseball. Five of the nine batters in tonight’s starting lineup are hitting below the Mendoza Line. At this point, it’s almost insulting to poor Mario Mendoza. At least he was known as a solid defender. These guys can’t even do that well.

Did you know that former South Side player and broadcaster Tom Paciorek was one of the individuals credited with coining the term “Mendoza Line” in 1979? Wimpy and current Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochte were giving George Brett a hard time about his slow start and reportedly told him that if he wasn’t careful, he would hit below the Mendoza Line, referring to Mario’s offensive woes. Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman at ESPN, and the term was quickly integrated into sports reporting when players were struggling. It’s kind of a fun story to distract you from awful baseball.

And here you have the aforementioned terrible lineup.

The Twins are not much better in the offensive department, with a .210 team BA, which ranks them 29th, one spot above the Sox. However, a .09 difference is probably just enough, as demonstrated in Minnesota’s victory yesterday.

Here’s how the Twinkies line them up.

On the bump tonight for the AL Central rivals is David Festa. The righty made his big league debut last year for Minnesota. He went 2-6 with a 4.90 ERA over 64 1⁄3 frames. This season, in two starts, he’s 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 10 Ks in nine innings. You know that only means great things are coming for an awful White Sox offense (insert sarcasm here).

If you are bold enough to turn the game on, you can view tonight’s contest on CHSN and via the high-tech antenna at 6:40 p.m. CST. You can also catch the radio broadcast on ESPN 1000.