The Twins are off to a great start this year, but their dream of going 162-0 was ended by a loss to the White Sox on Saturday. The first of many series between the White Sox and the Twins ended in a 2-1 series win for Minnesota. Facing a solid pitching staff, Chicago realized how hard it was to put the ball in play, except for the second game.
Friday, April 7th 1-3 L
Things looked hopeful for the White Sox as Jose Abreu singed in the first to drive in Tim Anderson for the first run of the game; unfortunately, this would be their only run of the game. From then on it was the Twins, scoring on an error by Avisail Garcia, a double by Miguel Sano, and ground rule double by the catcher Chris Gimenez.
It was Cody Asche’s second time starting as DH for the White Sox, and he yet again failed to get a hit. Besides Asche, the top four players in the lineup for the White Sox: Saladino, Anderson, Cabrera and Abreu, all tallied up at least one hit.
After the first inning, it was all Twins until the bottom of the 9th. The Twins closer Kintzler started having some trouble with two outs, as he had back-to-back walks with Garcia and Geovany Soto. It seemed that he could not find the strike zone. Realizing this, Ricky Renteria decided to pinch-hit Jacob May for Leury Garcia, who had a double earlier in the game. One would think that since Kintzler walked two batters in a row, it would not be a wise decision to swing at the first pitch. Apparently, Renteria must have forgotten that May was a rookie and didn’t know any better, because he swung at the first pitch which ended up because a routine ground ball to second base to secure the win for the Twins.
It was the White Sox debut for former Texas Ranger Derrick Holland, who put on a great performance. Don’t get fooled by the loss given to the him, he gave up only two earned runs in six innings, along with five strikeouts against Minnesota. However, his talents could not out pitch veteran Phil Hughes, who got his first win of the year.
Star of the Game: Phil Hughes (1-0, 5 inning, 3 K’s, 1.50 ERA)
Saturday, April 8th 6-2 W
Nobody really expected the Twins to start off the season 4-0. After sweeping Kansas City, they were looking for another win, but the White Sox would have nothing of it.
Avisail Garcia continued to show why he should stay on the team throughout the rebuild and in the future with an RBI triple to score Todd Frazier, who ended up getting his first hit of 2017 in the game. Garcia later came home to score after a squeeze bunt failed and Garcia was caught between home and third base, but ended up scoring after Sano threw the ball out of the catcher’s reach, making it 3-0 White Sox.
The runs kept on coming as Garcia and Geovany Soto hit back-to-back home runs in the 6th inning. This is especially surprising for Soto, who had only four total home runs last year, and already has three this season.
Dan Jennings closed out the game with a solid 1-2-3 inning in the 9th to get the White Sox back to .500.
Miguel Gonzalez started right where he left off last season. Through six solid innings of work, he gave up two earned runs while striking out six to give him a 3.00 ERA to start of the year. He is a key player for the White Sox to have at the 4th spot in the rotation, and he is arguably one of the best No. 4 starters in the American League. The White Sox bullpen continued their scoreless work with Zack Putnam and Jennings combinging to go three innings and giving up no runs.
Star of the Game: Avisail Garcia (3-4, 3 RBI’s, 1 HR, .500 BA)
Sunday April 9th 1-4 L
Coming into the game, the White Sox sat 4th in the American League Central with a 2-2 record. Trying to redeem himself from his horrible season debut, White Sox ace Jose Quintana looked to get back on track. A lot of people might have forgotten that this was Quintana pitching for the White Sox, so he could basically throw a perfect game and somehow end up loosing because of no run support.
Quintana looked sharp on the mound, even with the two runs that he gave up. The Twins did, however, manage to get another home run out of the ace, as Poland hit his first of the year in the 7th inning, making it a 2-0 Minnesota lead. Nate Jones came in relief for Quintana in the 8th and ended the bullpen’s scoreless streak by giving up a hitters pitch to Sano, who clubbed a two-run shot making it 4-0. To prove that Quintana got no support for the day, the White Sox only managed to scrape together two hits against Ervin Santana, who improved to 2-0 on the year. In the bottom of the 8th, the White Sox got the bases loaded with one out, but only managed to score one run after Garcia was hit by a pitch.
Cody Ache finally got his first hit of the year and is still trying to earn the DH spot from Matt Davidson who has a triple and a home run.
Quintana looked like his old self in his 6.1 innings of work. Giving up two runs and striking out seven Twins, his trade value continues to go up, which Rick Hahn will certainly use to his advantage. The only real reason that Quintana is not viewed as one of the best in the majors is because of the lack of run support that he gets. So far, the White Sox can only manage to score an average of two runs per game whenever Quintana is pitching.
Star of the Game: Ervin Santana (2-0, 2 H, 0.69 ERA)
Next series: White Sox (2-3) vs Cleveland Indians (3-3) April 11-13
