The White Sox didn't make it easy on themselves. Luckily, they were facing a team that only knows pain.
See? I wouldn't lie to you.
The White Sox committed three errors on the field and made a few other mistakes that didn't show up in the line score, tallied only seven hits at the plate, saw one reliever battle control issues, and leverage issues with another forced Liam Hendriks into a five-out save after a hairy garbage-time occurrence the night before.
And yet they completed the sweep of the Twins, who went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12. Minnesota entered the series eight games under .500 and seven games back. They're now 11 games under .500, 10 games back of the Sox, and have the worst record in the American League by percentage points behind the Tigers.
Tim Anderson turning Michael Pineda's first pitch into a solo shot suggested smooth sailing, but the game was anything but. They could only muster another solo shot off him over the other five innings, which came off the bat of Jake Lamb.
Unfortunately, Lamb was responsible for a run in the field, and a bunch of extra pitches. Playing first base because there's no natural reason for him to get playing time, Lamb bobbled a potential 3-6-1 double play ball in the second (six extra pitches), dropped a throw from Tim Anderson in the third (four extra pitches), and then couldn't dig out a throw from Lynn after he gathered a comebacker that hit him in the pitching hand.
The last one put the game in danger, because instead of three outs, a run crossed the plate to make it a 2-1 game. Lynn then had to throw four extra pitches to strike out Willans Astudillo, but even then, it also got past the mitt of Zack Collins, who overestimated Astudillo's speed and didn't even try throwing to first. That brought Kyle Garlick to the plate, who put a good swing on a 2-2 fastball with the bases loaded, but saw it fall into the glove of a leaping Billy Hamilton on the warning track for the final out.
So Lynn had to throw 20 extra pitches before the fifth inning, which tested Lynn's workhorse status by itself. Jorge Polanco kept the inning alive with a double, which prompted an intentional walk to Nelson Cruz. At that point, Lynn had thrown 94 pitches over 4⅔ innings, with Trevor Larnach coming to the plate. Larnach saw nine pitches and earned a walk, but even then, Lynn didn't leave the game. He faced Mitch Garver for his second bases-loaded jam in as many innings. Garver could've drawn a walk if he didn't fight off two fastballs in off the plate, but he kept the count full, and then looked at a knee-high fastball down the middle on the ninth pitch to end the jam.
Lynn probably shouldn't have lasted the inning, although he did get a win for the effort. Also, the White Sox bullpen wasn't exactly lockdown-strong behind him. Garrett Crochet walked two batters with one out, only to figure out the release point on his slider for a couple of K's to end the seventh. José Ruiz entered with a two-run lead in the eighth, only to run into the Peter Principle yet again. After a leadoff lineout to left, he gave up a roped homer to Max Kepler, followed by two solid singles that had Tony La Russa calling for Hendriks.
Hendriks survived a lineout to start his afternoon, courtesy of another fine play in left center by Hamilton. He also survived a popout, which shouldn't have been anything to sweat, except Yoán Moncada refused to be called off by Tim Anderson and nearly jostled the ball loose.
All of that went wrong, and yet the White Sox still sealed the sweep. Besides the solo homers, Andrew Vaughn came up with a big single off Hansel Robles in the sixth. Two innings later, La Russa pinch-hit Yermín Mercedes for Zack Collins to face lefty Taylor Rogers with two outs and two on, and Mercedes delivered an RBI single on a 1-2 slider for a key insurance run.
