Twins 5, White Sox 3: Not enough offense to overcome defensive mistakes

When rain impacted their weekend series, it allowed the Minnesota Twins to give their Ace, Jose Berrios, an extra day of rest. An extra day off is always a benefit for starting pitchers in mid-September, but delaying the start meant Berrios got to face the White Sox again. A team that Berrios been tormenting since joining the majors.

YearWLERAGGSCGIPHRERHRBBSO
2016101.801105411033
2017212.2133020.112751528
2018402.125513422883836
2019313.0044027311693325
Career1022.401313186.169322371992

Opposite of Berrios on the mound was Reynaldo Lopez, who did not enjoy facing the Minnesota Twins. In two previous starts, Lopez allowed 15 runs (11 earned) in 9.2 innings. If the White Sox were going to pull off the upset, they needed a combination of a surprising offensive outburst while Lopez finally figured out the Twins lineup. 

White Sox got off to a hot start with the bats, but the Twins continued to make contact again Lopez and his defense didn’t help much as the Sox fell, 5-3.

In the first inning, Leury Garcia started the game with a single to right field, and Yoan Moncada followed that up with his 30th double of the season. In a prime position to post multiple runs, Jose Abreu hit a sacrifice fly to center field playing Garcia. However, when Twins center fielder LaMonte Wade hit the cutoff man, Moncada got thrown out at third base trying to tag up. That unnecessary baserunning decision ended the rally early.

Up 1-0, James McCann hit his fourth career home run off Berrios starting the second inning. That blast seemed to wake up Berrios as he only allowed two more hits in the game.

It was a tied game after the second inning when the Twins hitters peppered Lopez with four singles and a sacrifice fly. After giving up the lead, Lopez did well to keep the game tied heading into the fifth inning when he ran into trouble again. Jorge Polanco hit a double to lead off the inning. Then the White Sox outfield defense made a couple of mistakes.

Nelson Cruz flew out to Eloy Jimenez in left field, but the throw was off target to allow Polanco to advance to third base. That ended up being an error on Jimenez which is his third of the season. Ryan Goins made the second outfield misplay. Lopez struck out Eddie Rosario for the second out, but when Mitch Garver’s fly to right field reached the warning track, Goins lack of experience playing in the outfield became costly. Instead of continuing to track the ball, Goins stopped short and watched the fly ball sail over his head and off the wall. Polanco scored, and Garver picked up an RBI double giving the Twins a 3-2 lead.

Lopez got back into trouble in the sixth inning as Wade hit his first double of the season to left field giving the Twins runners on second and third base with one out. That’s when the White Sox went to the bullpen as Jace Fry replaced Lopez. With the infield playing in, Fry did get the grounder he was hoping for from Luis Arraez. As it was going down the third baseline, Moncada misread the grounder and overran the play. The miscue ended up being a two-run single for Arraez extending the Twins lead to 5-2.

Lopez’s final line was 5.1 IP 9 H 5 ER 2 BB 2 K throwing 95 pitches with 62 strikes.

Berrios finally left in the eighth inning finishing with another excellent performance against the White Sox going 7.1 IP 5 H 2 ER 2 BB 8 K.

White Sox got back on the scoreboard thanks to Jimenez. This week’s American League Player of the Week crushed a Sergio Romo slider for his 28th home run of the season.

Taylor Rogers replaced Romo and picked up his 27th save when Welington Castillo grounded out, and Danny Mendick struck out.

Game Notes:

  • Yoan Moncada went 2-for-4 despite the two TOOTBLANs (he was picked off in the sixth inning), and his season batting average is now .310
  • The Twins are now 12-5 against the White Sox in 2019.

Record: 65-85 | Box Score | Highlights

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soxexile

So we have some more fantastic news…….

lil jimmy

I said last week he will not make all of his starts. Losing is the plan going forward.
Today we are tied at .433 with the Pirates and the Rockies. Tie goes to the worse team.(us)

GoGoSoxFan

I thought losing was the plan for the last three years.

Patrick Nolan

Tanking doesn’t matter in this area of the draft curve. Top 3? Sure. Below that? Whatever. It’s far more important to be able to identify and develop talent.

lil jimmy

Top 3 is arbitrary. What about Top 5? That’s really possible.

karkovice squad

For a team that can develop talent the difference between picking 5 or 10 is probably significant enough to matter. The threshold for being worth it is probably around whether you can move up 3 positions. That’s probably when you’re able to add another possible major leaguer with the bonus money instead of org guys.

The difference in projected production and surplus value for the actual player selected in the first round probably isn’t significant enough on its own.

lil jimmy

In 2015, Kyle Tucker at #5, Andrew Benintendi #7.
Fulmer #8. If we picked 5, or 6, one of those players would be here now.

texag10

I mean, you assume we just wouldn’t have taken Fulmer at 5 or 6.

karkovice squad

Or Tyler Jay.

lil jimmy

They preferred those two. I liked Tyler Jay as well, but injuries have hurt him.

karkovice squad

Maybe. But that assumes that the Sox both evaluated those players that way, would go away from their preference for college pitching, and had the coaching resources to get value out of either those choices. Maybe you have reason to think so but from my perspective we’re talking about Arby’s parody twitter content.

lil jimmy

there’s a falloff at the top of very draft. Fulmer was a Group B player.

PauliePaulie

176+ innings is plenty.
Congrats to Lucas on a fantastic season.
Cease has made 28 starts. Should think about shutting him down as well.

iowasox1971

Ricky’s boys don’t quit. Except during the final weeks of every season. Tonight’s loss makes us 23-41 after the all-star break. It’s our 15th loss in our last 20 games.

Saw an online report on the game in one of the Chicago papers where Lopez was crying about how he’s victimized by “bad luck” when he pitches. Guess he’s forgotten that he has a 5.44 ERA. Stop acting like a loser, Reynaldo, and start doing your job.

Figures that our only decent starting pitcher would develop arm problems. It was just a matter of time.

ParisSox

This is how you make me imagine Iowa ..comment image

ParisSox

meh, forget wins and losses at this point, I’m excitedly checking the box scores for numerous things each morning:
Jiminez v. Abreu for team HR leader. Just so 75% of us can say we saw it coming if Eloy passes Abreu.
Timmy BA title. (even going to the Yankees box score to see how Lamewatchamacallit did.)
Abreu RBI title.
Cease improvement. Though as stated above, I won’t be heartbroken if they shut him down.

GoGoSoxFan

I thought the error on Jimenez should have been given to Moncada.

roke1960

The entire leadership group of this organization is clueless. Ricky says next year will be different and they expect to win. How does that happen? Is he just going to flip the “win” switch over the winter? Not giving Madrigal and Robert major league at bats this season most likely means that they will struggle out of the gate. Sending Covey out there every 5th day just about insures a loss. Putting Goins in right field when he is clearly not an outfielder is just stupid when you have expanded rosters. Why did Skole play yesterday? He has no part in the future of this team.

Ricky’s boys don’t quit. But Ricky quit a long time ago. Any respectable GM would see that 18-under in the 2nd half after going 2-under in the first half is not acceptable. But then, we don’t have anything close to a respectable GM. Get ready for a slow winter and then more Hahn lies about “trusting the process”. This is just so irritating.