The White Sox aren't going to have a losing season, and Lucas Giolito isn't going to have a 5.00 ERA, for whatever those things are worth.
The White Sox offense posted a pair of four-packs during the first half of the game, and Giolito carried his start well into the second half with seven strong innings, and the combination allowed the Sox to secure their 81st victory of the season.
The Sox maximized their chances. They scored eight runs on eight hits, went 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and stranded just two runners on the evening.
They chased Josh Winder in the third inning with a series of solid hits. Elvis Andrus singled with one out, stole second, then scored on Yoán Moncada's double for the game's first run. José Abreu took a pitch in the shoulder for maybe the last time in his White Sox career, and Eloy Jiménez exacted revenge with a double at the base of the wall in the left field corner to score Moncada. Gavin Sheets then shot a single past a drawn-in second baseman to make it a 4-0 game.
An inning later, Yasmani Grandal led off with a single between the wickets of Aaron Sanchez, who finished the previous inning. His speed then forced Nick Gordon to rush his throw to second on Romy González's potential 4-6-3 ball, and it sailed wide of Carlos Correa to keep both runners safe. Adam Engel then smoked a 111-mph line drive over the head of left fielder Jake Cave to allow Grandal to trot home while pushing Gonzalez to third, and both scored when Elvis Andrus, fresh off a reprieve from a called third strike that wasn't, hit his ninth homer as a member of the White Sox to make it a laugher.
Giolito had two brief bouts of control loss, plunking a pair of batters to start the second, then issuing a pair of one-out walks in the sixth (Grandal dropped a couple of borderline pitches to lose a couple of potential strikes). A run resulted from each, although Moncada turned a brilliant 5-3 double play with a cross-body throw across the diamond after stepping on third to end the latter threat.
That allowed Giolito to lock in a quality start, but he came out to pitch the seventh, and recorded a 1-2-3 inning on just eight pitches for 91 on the evening. He finishes the year 11-9 with a 4.90 ERA, although the Sox went 13-17 in his starts to better sum up the disappointment.
Bullet points:
*The Twins scored their third and final run off José Ruiz on Jermaine Palacios' first career homer, although Engel nearly robbed it. It was a matter of alignment than timing, because his glove missed the ball as the ball hit the top of the wall and bounced over.
*Abreu hit his 40th double of the season in the first inning, after he committed his 11th error of the season by boxing Luis Arraez's leadoff chopper.
*Game 162 will be a rubber match for the season series, as it's 9-9.
