Lucas Giolito looked like his old self.
Unfortunately, most everybody else on the White Sox looked just a little too typical.
Giolito pitched six strong innings, but a Gavin Sheets misadventure in right field gave the Twins a lead they'd never relinquish, because a shallow lineup couldn't pose threats to Sonny Gray and the Minnesota bullpen. The White Sox leave Minnesota having lost two of three, and Pedro Grifol is still seeking his first series win.
At least Giolito was brilliant. His fastball averaged 93.4 mph, but it rounded up to 96 when he needed it, and so he could throw it for 60 of his 108 pitches without hesitation. His slider was good enough to be his second pitch, even though his chaneup was also a threat. He generated 13 whiffs and struck out seven, but he also didn't allow a batted ball above 98 mph on the afternoon.
Unfortunately, a seemingly routine 89 mph fly off the bat of Ryan Jeffers is the reason he left Target Field with the loss. Gavin Sheets was initially positioned well for it, and he might've caught it if he didn't move a lower-body muscle.
Instead, Sheets first broke in, then tried to break back, except he turned in the wrong direction. Then he fell down, and the ball bounced behind him and to the wall for a "triple." That "triple" turned into an "earned run" on a checked-swing Michael A. Taylor grounder to first, which might've been a fielder's choice at home had Andrew Vaughn handled it cleanly. The bases ended up being loaded after Giolito hit Kyle Farmer in the face with a fastball, then walked Edouard Julien, so Vaughn would've had the force at home. Instead, he bobbled the ball and settled for the out at first, and a lineout prevented further damage.
The game remained 1-0 until the eighth, but Aaron Bummer allowed a legitimate single to Jefferson, who came around to score on Willi Castro's double. Gregory Santos tried to strand the runner, but Taylor singled on an elevated 0-1 slider to make it a 3-0 game.
The margin proved important, because Lenyn Sosa's opposite-field homer didn't affect the outcome. Even if Yasmani Grandal's leadoff single wasn't erased by a Hanser Alberto double play, Duran still would've had enough of a cushion.
The White Sox tallied six hits and three walks, but they only resulted in four at-bats with runners in scoring position because the Twins retired the leadoff man in seven of nine innings. Every threat arrived late and dissolved shortly afterward.
Outside of Vaughn, who reached base on a single and two walks, Sosa's play was the lone bright spot among position players. He went 1-for-4 with the homer off Duran, and he also maintained his concentration fielding a grounder while Byron Buxton t-boned him in front of second base. Sosa ended up hip-checking him, and returned to the dugout without incident, while Buxton needed to gather himself.
Bullet points:
*Keynan Middleton and Jake Diekman teamed up to handle the seventh. Middleton allowed a pair of singles while working on consecutive days, but he also struck out two, while Diekman induced the aforementioned grounder that resulted in the Sosa-Buxton collision.
*Sheets went 0-for-4 and led the team with five stranded, while nobody else had more than two runners on base over the course of the day. Oscar Colás is not allowed to sit anymore.
*White Sox pitching allowed 10 runs over three games, and nine in regulation. That represents significant improvement over the previous two three-game sets -- 31 runs to San Francisco, and 19 runs to Pittsburgh.
