September 22: Twins 8, White Sox 6
Here’s a loss you can’t pin on the offense.
John Danks put the Sox in an early hole in just two batters, walking Carlos Gomez to start the game, then giving up a homer to Orlando Cabrera for an early 2-0 deficit. A double, single and sac fly gave the Twins another run before the Sox got a chance to bat.
But the Sox fought their way back in. Scott Podsednik chipped into the lead by walking, stealing second and advancing on two groundouts to get the Sox on the board. They sunk Jeff Manship two innings later, with an Alex Rios solo shot starting a barrage of five consecutive hits, including a two-run Gordon Beckham homer to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.
Danks had a habit of killing any momentum, and Mike Cuddyer played a large part.
Cuddyer scored a tying run with a leadoff double, moving to third on a single and scoring on a double play. Later on, with the game tied at 5 (more later), Cuddyer immediately regained the lead with a solo shot. Matt Tolbert hit one off the top of the wall — just out of the reach of Carlos Quentin for a two-run lead.
A good left fielder probably makes that play. An inning earlier, a good center fielder probably also catches Joe Mauer’s line drive to center. However, it got past Scott Podsednik, and A.J. Pierzynski couldn’t come up the short hop from a pretty good relay throw from Chris Getz, allowing Orlando Cabrera to score from first for a 5-4 lead.
Paul Konerko scored Gordon Beckham from first on a double to get that run back, before Danks let the game get away for good. Jason Kubel homered off Octavio Dotel in the seventh, the Twins’ fourth homer on the evening. Konerko came back with a solo shot of his own, but the Sox couldn’t muster anything more to close the gap.
Beckham and Konerko had nice days, both reaching base three times. The Sox only stranded five runners. Unfortunately, pitching couldn’t make it pay off.
Record: 73-79 | Box score | Play-by-play
