White Sox: Stick it to the Minnesota Twins for another win
For the second consecutive night, the White Sox made the Minnesota Twins look really, really bad.
The AL Central rivals were expected to be better than the White Sox in 2018, but it appears that the Sox have the Twins’ number.
It’s becoming fun to watch the Sox take a few wins from a team that should be at the top of the AL Central.
On Tuesday, the Sox defeated the Twins by a score of 8-4. On Wednesday, the Sox did it again, but by a score of 6-1. The win was credited to James Shields, who pitched a gem. He was helped by offense from Jose Abreu, Leury Garcia, and Tim Anderson.
Shields pitched a gem
After a horrible outing against the Oakland Athletics on June 22, Shields pitched an absolute gem. against the Twins. He went seven innings, giving up only four hits. He walked two batters and struck out five. Most notably, no runs were scored on his watch. This was his first shut-out game of the season and his first one since July 26, 2016 when he pitched eight innings against the Chicago Cubs in a 3-0 win.
A pair of home runs
Shields was helped tremendously by several of his teammates who got on base and helped score runs. Jose Abreu had the biggest hit of the night when he hit a solo home run in the fifth inning off of Kyle Gibson. Avisail Garcia hit his first one home run since returning from the DL. His was in the eighth off of Ryan Pressly.
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Timely hitting helped
Other runs were scored by Daniel Palka, Leury Garcia, and Tim Anderson. They all crossed home plate in the three-run fourth inning with timely hitting. Garcia plated both Abreu after a sharp line drive double. Anderson plated Palka and Omar Narvaez earned an RBI after Anderson scored off of his ground out to short. Anderson crossed home plate a second time in the sixth on an outfield single from Charlie Tilson.
Truly a team effort
The win really belonged to the entire team. Even the bullpen came through as Xavier Cedeno and Juan Minaya were tasked with ending the game. Facing the top of the order, Cedeno got the first three batters out including striking out Eduardo Escobar.
Minaya was given the job of closing the game in the top of the ninth and he did it. But, he couldn’t make it look easy as he gave up walks to Robbie Grossman and Jake Cave with two outs. Minaya gave up a run after allowing Ehire Adrianza to get a hit and an RBI from Grossman ending the shut-out. Minaya had to be replaced by Luis Avilan who faced pinch hitter Logan Morrison. Avilan got the job done, striking out Morrison in four pitches.
Next: Updated goals for the White Sox pitching staff
The Sox have officially won the series. They face the Twins at 1:10 on Thursday where Jake Odorizzi will face Lucas Giolito. A sweep of the Twinkies sure would be nice. Go, Sox!