The White Sox have now lost 20 games in a row, and today shows just how the pieces of this team never come together.
The White Sox offense scored seven runs for the first time in more than a month, except it happened on the same day where Chris Flexen gave up eight runs over 1⅔ innings, so they technically wouldn't have won regardless of how the bullpen performed. The White Sox relief corps performed admirably for four innings, but six proved too many. Of course.
Flexen needed the best possible defense to buy enough time to find a groove, but he was treated with an unhelpful effort from the get-go. Andrew Benintendi yielded a single by pulling up on a line drive that almost hit his feet, and then Brooks Baldwin let a hop get through him on what should've been an inning-ending grounder to keep the Twins off the board.
But Flexen led off the second with a walk, then gave up a parade of hard-hit balls, capped off by a Royce Lewis three-run homer that gave the Twins a 7-0 lead. He departed the game after giving up a two-out single to Jose Miranda, and Sammy Peralta gave up an RBI to Matt Wallner, which turned into a triple when the carom off the wall also caromed off Luis Robert Jr.'s glove.
Peralta eventually found his groove and handled the next three scoreless innings. He capped off his afternoon by stranding runners on second and third with nobody out by strikeout, strikeout and groundout. Prelander Berroa pitched the best inning he's thrown in the White Sox organization in the sixth, but he came up short of an encore in the seventh. He left the bases loaded with one out for Fraser Ellard, and a Korey Lee passed ball and a sacrifice fly accounted for two Minnesota insurance runs.
Steven Wilson, who stormed off the mound in his last appearance, was left to throw 35 pitches in a three-run eighth. Pedro Grifol didn't seem to entertain the idea of an earlier hook this time around.
The only moral victory is that the offense couldn't be blamed. Benintendi grounded out with the bases loaded in the first inning, but they continued to make Simeon Woods Richardson work after, and he was limited to four innings. Baldwin atoned for his first-inning error by reaching base four times from the second spot, going 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Benintendi countered for his lesser moments with a pair of extra-base hits, including a two-run homer that made it an 8-5 game in the seventh. Andrew Vaughn played through a sinus problem and went 3-for-4 with two doubles.
Add it all up, and the Sox scored early, they scored late, and they posted three crooked numbers -- and as far as its impact on ending the losing streak, it absolutely did not matter.
Bullet points:
*Benintendi makes it hard to feel good about him. Besides the awkward defensive effort in the first inning, he also jogged into second base on a drive that got stuck beneath the padding of the wall in right-center. He would've had an easy triple had he kept running, because Byron Buxton did not signal for an umpire ruling.
*Flexen and the White Sox had a problem with Lance Barrett's strike zone all day, but despite a couple of audible warnings, nobody was ejected.
*Berroa sat at 99-100 mph in the sixth inning, getting a popout and two strikeouts.
*The Twins joined the Royals in winning 12 of 13 against the White Sox this season.
*The White Sox are 60 games under .500 for the first time in franchise history.
*Grifol is now 100 games under .500 as a manager (88-188).
