The White Sox had their shot early, but two brutal four-run frames from the Twins turned this one into a slog.
The Good Guys wasted a golden chance right away. Sam Antonacci reached on a boot, Miguel Vargas doubled, and suddenly it was second and third, nobody out in the top of the first. Then Andrew Benintendi fanned, Colson Montgomery popped up, Chase Meidroth whiffed, and that was that. This is where you really feel the Munetaka Murakami-sized hole in the lineup.
Chicago’s starter David Sandlin
gave up a run in the first but settled down, and the Sox finally scratched in the third. Antonacci doubled, moved up on a Vargas fly, and Benny came through with a full-count RBI knock to tie it at 1-1.
Bottom three brought a double play straight out of a blooper reel. Grounder to first, Jacob Gonzalez flips to Montgomery for one, but the throw back is wild. Clemens tries for second, Gonzalez chases it down, fires back to Montgomery, tag applied, and somehow that’s an unconventional twin killing. Score it 3-6-3-6 if you dare.
Chicago squandered another shot in the fourth — Meidroth led off with a ground-rule double, but he died there. The Twins wasted no time making them pay.
Josh Bell doubled to open the bottom of the fourth, Larnach singled, and Austin Martin grounded into a force out as Sandlin almost wriggled out after Bell got cut down at the plate on a Victor Carantini fielder’s choice. But a four-pitch walk loaded the bases, and then Tristan Gray unloaded them with a grand slam to left-center. Minnesota had the book open, and the scouting report dialed in on Sandlin this time around.
The Sox punched back in the fifth. Rikuu Nishida legged out an infield single, Vargas went deep to left-center for two, and Benintendi followed with a solo shot to right. Suddenly, it was 5-4, and the dugout had life.
That jolt lasted about five minutes.
Sandlin started the fifth with another free pass, and the wheels came off. Bell singled, Larnach walked, and in came Tyler Davis, who poured gas on the fire. Martin and Caratini knocked in runs, Luke Keaschall chipped in a sac fly, Gray added another RBI, and suddenly it was 9-4, Twins.
Meanwhile, Brandon Eisert spun a clean sixth, and Trevor Richards quietly mopped up the seventh and eighth without drama.
Sandlin’s final line? Four innings, eight hits, eight runs, four walks, four Ks. Woof. Joe Ryan wasn’t the buzzsaw he was last week, but he did enough: six innings, four runs, eight hits, nine punchouts.
The Sox made the final score a little more respectable in the ninth. Antonacci singled, Vargas mashed his second homer of the night — number 15 on the year — but that was the end of the fun. Benintendi grounded out, Montgomery fanned, and his six-game hit streak died with an 0-for-5.
In the end, the Sox just didn’t have the horses to survive two knockout innings from the Twins. The late bombs made the score look less ugly, but Minnesota proved how hard it is to fool a division rival twice in a week.
