White Sox Find an Offense, Still Lose to Twins

Yet again, It was that kind of night for Dylan Axelrod and the White Sox (Jesse Johnson, USA TODAY Sports).

The White Sox are still in the midst of what is supposed to be the easy part of their schedule, but with the way they are playing, you wouldn’t know it.  The White Sox offense actually supplied a rare comeback, scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the Twins at five.  But Ramon Troncoso gave those two runs right back in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving the Twins a 7-5 series-opening victory.

Dylan Axelrod had a horrendous start to the game, giving up four runs on five hits in the first inning, but came back give the Sox six innings, thereby avoiding a Duane Heath appearance.  Axelrod did give up ten hits to the Twins in those six innings, leaving many hittable pitches out over the plate.

Paul Konerko led the White Sox’s offensive charge, going 4-4, including a game-tying RBI single in the eighth inning, knocking in Alex Rios, who singled and stole second base to get himself in scoring position.

Conor Gillaspie hit a two-run homer in the second inning to cut the Twins’ four-run lead in half.  The homer was his fifth of the season.  While Gordon Beckham had two hits to raise his average to .324, he committed a costly error on the Twins’ first batter of the game, which in part led to the Twins big inning.

All in all, the loss is the White Sox’s fifth in the last sixth games and leaves them ten games below .500 in last place in the American League Central Division.

Rick Hahn hinted that the Sox are not sellers yet, and might even look to make a couple of additions.  But if this year’s poor performance thus far hasn’t convinced the front office that a rebuild is the way to go, what will?

Stay tuned for the answer.