The Minnesota Twins jumped out to an early lead against Carlos Rodon, as Jorge Polanco hit a two-run homer from the right side to open the scoring in the first inning.
…and that was pretty much it for the scoring on the day for the Twins, who allowed the game’s next seven runs over the following four innings before tacking on a run in the seventh and briefly threatening in the ninth in a 7-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
Carlos Rodon was brilliant for the White Sox as he’s really hit his stride since returning from a shoulder issue in mid-June. Rodon has a 2.71 ERA over 86.1 innings, and that includes tossing six innings of two-run ball against the Twins with just three hits allowed on Wednesday.
His counterpart was Kyle Gibson, and the Twins righty continued his season-long struggles with the White Sox.
Gibson, who came in with a season ERA of 3.51, had allowed eight earned runs in 13.2 innings against the White Sox this season (5.27 ERA). That trend continued, as Chicago knocked him around the ballpark — or more accurately, out of it — for three homers and seven runs (four earned) before the tall righty got the gate in the fifth inning.
Wednesday marked the first time since April 11 against Houston that Gibson did not complete five innings.
The White Sox pushed across single runs on solo shots from Nicky Delmonico in the second inning and Tim Anderson in the fourth — the latter tied the game at two — but it was the fifth inning where things got out of hand.
The White Sox pushed across five runs in the frame. It all started with an Omar Narvaez walk, and five of the first six White Sox to bat reached safely, including a two-run homer from Adam Engel and former Twins prospect Daniel Palka reaching safely on an error by Logan Forsythe.
Gibson left after the final run scored, with Gabriel Moya walking Narvaez — his second of the inning — before getting Engel to hit a foul pop to Bobby Wilson behind the plate.
Polanco’s first-inning homer was his second of the year against a lefty — and just third overall — and he came into the game hitting a scant .183/.180/.283 against southpaws.
That isn’t a typo — his on-base percentage is lower than his slugging due to a sacrifice fly and the fact that he’s got a 14-0 K/BB ratio against lefties.
The Twins threatened in the seventh inning, scoring a run on a Forsythe single to left, but stranding a pair when Polanco got up 2-0 on reliever Juan Minaya before smoking a line drive right at right fielder Avisail Garcia.
The Twins also briefly made a ruckus in the ninth against former Twins lefty Hector Santiago. Robbie Grossman opened the inning with a walk and Ehire Adrianza poked a single to right, but Forsythe and Polanco struck out swinging with Eddie Rosario grounding out to first in between them to finish out the day.
The Twins capped the quick two-game trip to Chicago with a split, and the one positive was that the bullpen did fine work while on the road.
Gabriel Moya, Matt Magill, Addison Reed and Oliver Drake combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout, two walks and just one hit allowed after Gibson was lifted. In Tuesday’s game, Moya, Trevor May and Taylor Rogers combined to throw four innings of one-run ball with two hits, seven strikeouts and just one walk.
The Twins will head home to open a four-game series with Oakland starting Thursday before hitting the road to take on Cleveland, Texas and Houston.
There are just two homestands left in the regular season after this one — a six-game stretch against Kansas City and the Yankees and a seven-game run against Detroit and the White Sox to finish the year.
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Notes
- Here are the upcoming pitching matchups for the four-game home series against the Oakland A’s which opens up Thursday evening:
- Trevor Cahill vs. Kohl Stewart – 7:10 p.m. Thursday
- Sean Manaea vs. Jake Odorizzi – 7:10 p.m. Friday
- Mike Fiers vs. Stephen Gonsalves – 6:10 p.m. Saturday
- Brett Anderson vs. Jose Berrios – 1:10 p.m. Sunday
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