The White Sox already had the edge on paper with Davis Martin and his 2.04 ERA facing walk-heavy rookie Kendry Rojas. Then Rojas got scratched with posterior elbow soreness, forcing the Twins to scramble with a true bullpen day led by Simeon Woods Richardson.
It set up the kind of game where a legit team presses its advantages for a comfortable victory, and the White Sox did just that. Maybe it wasn't as resounding as Wednesday's 13-run rout, but a big four-run third put the White Sox on the correct course, and Martin pitched six strong innings to lead the run prevention half of the efforts to a series victory over a division rival they have to keep at bay.
"Our offense bangs, we play great defense, it leads to these types of things," Martin said. "I don’t think it’s anything that I’m doing different, it’s a byproduct of a team doing a lot of good stuff together. It’s a good team to be a part of, it’s a fun team and it’s exciting every start date waking up knowing that you’ve got a chance to win."
Outside of one inning, the Minnesota bullpen largely held the Sox in check, but as the Sox's nine-run inning in San Francisco showed, sometimes one crooked number is all that's needed.
Woods Richardson was one out away from three decent innings, having been jabbed for one first-inning run when Miguel Vargas singled, stole second and scored on Colson Montgomery's single. He struck out Vargas for the second out of the third, but he couldn't get any further into the game.
Montgomery kept the inning alive with a single and Chase Meidroth walked to load the bases. Woods Richardson then sawed off Tristan Peters, but to his detriment. Peters hit a soft, slicing line drive that landed on the left side of the infield, and the play developed too slowly for Brooks Lee to get the out at first. The infield knock put the Sox ahead 2-0, and then Randal Grichuk effectively put the game out of reach by shooting a double into the right field corner that cleared the bases for a 5-0 lead.
"Typically [Andrew Benintendi] would be in there at DH but Grichuk has been good on both sides of the plate and really with the change so close to the game, just didn't think it was fair to Grich or Benny to make that change," Will Venable said of keeping Grichuk in the lineup after the left-handed Rojas was scratched. "Certainly have confidence in Grich's ability to handle both sides on the mound."
That gave Martin a big cushion for a second consecutive start, and unlike that nine-run lead in San Francisco, Martin maintained control through the end of his afternoon to improve to 8-1 while lowering his ERA to an even 2.00.
Martin didn't quite match David Sandlin's line, but perhaps he would have if not for Tristan Gray, who notched the only two hits on Martin's tab. He broke up a no-hitter with two outs in the third, and then he doubled with one out in the fifth. That pushed Orlando Arcia to third after his leadoff walk, and an RBI groundout put Minnesota on the board, albeit at a 6-1 deficit.
Otherwise, Martin was his usual self, although with so many lefties in the lineup, he used mostly fastballs and changeups, getting outs with enough efficiency that he didn't have to dive deep into his arsenal.
"It’s incredible to watch," said Peters. "I feel like it makes my job easy out there. Especially seeing it from center field, too, just the way his ball moves. No wonder people are struggling to hit it.”
The Twins did mount a couple of threats once Martin left the game. Jordan Leasure gave up a leadoff double to Josh Bell in the seventh, and he came around to score on a couple of productive outs. In the eighth, Meidroth booted a potential double-play ball to complicate Tyler Davis' inning, and Trevor Larnach came a couple inches away from a two-run double that would've brought the tying run to the plate. But it ended up on the better side of the chalk, and Davis stranded the runners with a couple of strikeouts to quash the last threat.
Bullet points:
*The Sox have scored 23 runs over Martin's last three starts.
*Martin helped out his own cause with a nifty play on Kody Clemens' tapper to the other side of the mound, and Sam Antonacci made an inelegant-but-effective diving catch in left. Aside from Meidroth's error, it was another stout effort.
"I went up to [Antonacci] and asked him how his back was because it didn’t look like the most smooth play in the world, but I just think the confidence he’s getting out there is increasing," Martin said. "The beautiful thing about Sam is he’s a gamer. He’s going to make it happen. Whether it looks good, it doesn’t matter as long as he makes the play. He’s fine with it, everyone’s fine with it."
*Antonacci singled to lead off the fourth, advanced to second by drawing an errant pickoff, and scored on a Murakami double that dropped between the shortstop and left fielder, and was kicked further into the outfield.
*The White Sox's run differential is back to 0. They were one Murakami short-hop rocket away from a sweep and being on the plus side of things.
