It’s become an all-too-familiar script as Chicago loses 6-3 to Minnesota
The White Sox let yet another game slip away as they continued their early-season struggles with a 6–3 loss to the Minnesota Twins, dropping to an abysmal 5–19 on the year. Despite holding a brief mid-game lead, the South Siders couldn’t hold down the Twins’ offense — or their own self-inflicted wounds.
Chicago would set the tone for the evening with missed chances and poor execution in the top of the first. Luis Robert Jr. did a nice job working a free pass, but then promptly got picked off. It was just an omen of things to come.
Starter Bryse Wilson found himself in trouble early. He loaded the bases in the bottom of the first, but Carlos Correa bailed him out by lining into an unassisted double play. Things were equally as bad in the second when the righthander once again walked the tightrope, loading the bases, but escaped the jam a second time by striking out Byron Buxton. He wouldn’t be as lucky the third time around as Wilson’s night began to unravel after back-to-back walks and an RBI single by Ty France put Minnesota up 1-0.
Wilson labored through 2 2⁄3 innings, surrendering five hits, three walks, and one earned run on 55 pitches. He exited with two on and two out, leaving Brandon Eisert to extinguish the fire. A defensive miscue by Jacob Amaya — unable to handle a routine grounder — loaded the bases yet again, but Eisert induced a line out to end the inning.
Down 2–0 after the Twins added another run in the fourth off a Trevor Larnach RBI single, the Sox flipped the script in the fifth. A walk to Brooks Baldwin, a single by Bobby Dalbec, and a four-pitch free pass to Joshua Palacios packed the sacks with Sox and nobody out. A wild pitch plated Baldwin, and an RBI single from Andrew Benintendi tied the game. Chicago took its only lead of the night, 3–2, when Edgar Quero hit a routine grounder that skipped under the glove of Keaschall — a costly error for a Twins team already among the league leaders in miscues.
The Good Guy’s lead was short-lived, and the momentum began to swing Minnesota’s way. Penn Murfee opened the bottom of the fifth by issuing a leadoff walk, followed by back-to-back singles that knotted the score at 3–3. Steven Wilson was summoned from the pen and was able to control the damage with a strong outing, but the cracks had already begun to form.
The Twinkies retook the lead in the sixth when Trevor Larnach launched a solo shot off Jordan Leasure. Then came the dagger: Buxton, who was 0-for-4 with three Ks, made up for it with a two-run blast in the seventh off Cam Booser. Jared Shuster finished out the contest as the seventh pitcher of the night and tossed 1 1⁄3 innings of scoreless ball.
The Sox mustered little in the final frames. Quero drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, his second of the night, but the offense failed to move him over. Chicago was retired in order in both the seventh and ninth, ending the night just 1-for-8 with RISP. With five walks and six hits, the Sox offense once again left too many opportunities on the table.
The Pale Hose will try to salvage the series tomorrow, but with the way things are going, you know the drill. Get ready to fire up another L.