After losing five straight games and attempting to spark some offense by having Leury Garcia bat in the lineup’s upper third, manager Tony La Russa made another change. Unlike watching Garcia and his -24 wRC+ bat second or third, it was Andrew Vaughn’s time to move up in the order.
Batting behind Tim Anderson, Vaughn was the lone offensive supporter in the previous night’s 2-1 loss with his 3rd home run of the season. With Byron Buxton back for Minnesota and Dylan Bundy on the mound, the hope was Vaughn could lead an offensive outburst to snap the losing streak.
Vaughn did hit a ground-rule double in the 8th inning, but the White Sox offense only mustered six hits. Buxton had a monster day offensively as the Twins embarrassed the White Sox, 9-2. The losing streak extends to six games.
Vince Velasquez had a rough start in his previous outing allowing four runs to the Tampa Bay Rays before settling down. However, the damage was done, and the offense didn’t score enough to overcome that deficit.
Against the Twins, Velasquez allowed a leadoff single to Buxton, another single to Luis Arraez, and walked Carlos Correa to load the bases with no outs. Velasquez had put the White Sox squarely into the Danger Zone for an offense that only scored 16 runs in their previous eight games.
Luckily for Velasquez and the White Sox, Jorge Polanco could only muster a slow roller to Tim Anderson for the force out at second base. That play scored Buxton. Then Max Kepler and Trevor Larnach struck out, ending the threat. It took almost 30 pitches, but Velasquez limited the damage to just one run.
More damage came to the White Sox shortly after. Eloy Jimenez hit another ground ball in the top of the second inning. He attempted to run as hard as possible in hopes of an infield single. As he lunged to first base, Jimenez didn’t get the front of the bag. Instead, his heel touched on the back of first base, causing Jimenez to trip. Clearly in pain, an injury cart was needed for Jimenez to take him off the field.
Thanks to doubles from Ryan Jeffers and Buxton, Minnesota would score two more runs in the bottom of the inning. A three-run deficit should never feel overwhelming for a team as talented as this Chicago White Sox squad. A sign of life finally showed in the fourth inning.
Jose Abreu flew out to deep left field as Nick Gordon made a nice catch at the wall. Yasmani Grandal followed that deep fly with one of his own, but it ricocheted off the right field wall for a double. Gavin Sheets singled to right field, celebrating his birthday, putting runners on the corners with one out. But keeping up with the dreadful play, Adam Engel struck out on three pitches. Leury Garcia flew out to center field, keeping the White Sox scoreless.
Of course, matters got worse for the White Sox in the bottom half. Jeffers and Buxton both hit solo homers to chase away Velasquez. His final line was 3.1 IP 8 H 5 ER 1 BB 6 K.
Bennett Sousa replaced Velasquez and only managed one out while giving up two more runs on as many hits. Kyle Crick had to put out the fire by striking out Miguel Sano to end the inning. As the game entered the halfway point, the White Sox were down 7-0.
Twins pushed it to an 8-0 lead after five innings. White Sox finally showed some sign of life as Abreu hit his second home run of the season.
Abreu picked up his second RBI of the game driving in Danny Mendick from third base after Vaughn’s ground-rule double.
Game Notes:
- The current White Sox losing streak is the longest since September 20 to 25, 2020.
- Tim Anderson was pulled in the fifth inning.
- White Sox have scored 18 runs in their last nine games.
- Byron Buxton went 4-for-4 with an HBP.
