A cursory check of early-season statistical trends found that both the White Sox offense and pitching were near the bottom of the league in home runs per fly ball. So while no one thought the rotation's flirtation with a 0.00 ERA was particularly sustainable, the regression was bound to take a specific shape.
As the Sox dropped their second-straight series to open the season, it took the shape of fluttering Sean Burke sliders that split the plate and stayed above the belt.
The exact number of them is up for debate, but it wasn't less than two. Byron Buxton launching a 3-1 hanger halfway up the center field bleachers for a first inning solo shot is most memorable because it led to a fan throwing it back and being immediately ejected, mere moments after the end of a three-hour and 20-minute rain delay. But unquestionably the killshot was Harrison Bader connecting for his second three-run homer in as many days, yanking a first-pitch middle-away bender that stayed belt-high into the Sox bullpen to stake the Twins to a 4-0 lead in the fourth.
"The two they hit were just middle-middle sliders that get hit pretty often when you throw them in those spots," Burke said. "Back to halfway through last year, my biggest thing was I want to be able to beat guys in-zone. I don’t want to beat myself. I don’t want to put guys on base. So, I think just kind of getting back to being a little bit finer with some of those pitches and not just throwing them over the heart of the plate."
With Sox batters piling up quick weak contact in against seven innings of Twins starter Pablo López, an offensive mode that's been seen at least as often as their '27 Yankees impression in the early going, Bader's blast immediately felt like a decisive blow. No Sox hitter had multiple hits, no Sox hitter had an extra-base hit until Brooks Baldwin swatted a López cement-mixer out to center for a seventh inning solo shot, and they fared 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Look, it doesn't quite carry the pizzazz of 'wait until they get _______ back' cases of recent past, but this team could use Mike Tauchman back in the lineup against right-handed pitching.
*With the wind howling in 11 mph and visibly affecting ball flight all evening on anything elevated, a sinking liner off the bat of Buxton snuck up on Travis Jankowski in the fifth. His diving effort allowed the ball to skip past him, freeing up Carlos Correa to race around from second to score. While that ended Burke's day, a Ty France double off Cam Booser plated Buxton to take the right-hander's ERA from 0.00 to 5.23.
"That ball died on Janko there, I thought he gave it a great effort," said Will Venable. "The wind was a factor, it’s just part of April baseball in Chicago."
*Burke took an 108.4 mph comebacker to the knee off the bat of Matt Wallner in the third inning and kept pitching. His grit wasn't lacking in supply.
"I don’t think it’s anything too serious," Burke said. "Probably just be sore for a couple of days. Not worried about it too much."
*As stated above, the game began with a three-hour and 20-minute delay, which is shorter than a return trip from Minneapolis to Chicago would have been, so the Twins really won twice.
"Not much," Baldwin said of his rain day activities. "Play a little cards, some ping-pong, just be able to stay ready whenever they say it's go time."
*The announced attendance for this balmy evening at the ballpark was 10,193. Amateur sleuthing would suggest fewer stayed for all nine.
*The entire AL Central is now 2-4. This is God's country, and this is God's division.
