Minnesota Twins postgame report: Thorpe pitches well, but Twins fall to White Sox

The Minnesota Twins staged another late rally, but a 4-0 defecit and a lengthy rain delay were too much to overcome in a 4-3 loss to the White Sox.

After playing two marathon games in a nine-day stretch, the Minnesota Twins played a marathon game of a different kind on Sunday against the Chicago White Sox. The rubber game of the three-game series got started on time at 1:10 p.m., but a nasty line of storms forced a nearly three-hour rain delay after the fifth inning.

When the teams emerged from their clubhouses, it was the White Sox that came out on fire, putting together a two-run sixth inning to help put the Twins in a 4-0 hole and hung on for a 4-3 victory.

Twin Takeaways – The Good

After Kyle Gibson pitched in the 17th inning of Thursday’s marathon game with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Twins were in search for a spot starter to keep Gibson on schedule. That starter turned out to be Lewis Thorpe, who pitched well in his major league debut. The Australian threw five innings allowing two runs on a Yoan Moncada blast in the third inning while allowing five hits and striking out seven.

After the bullpen helped dig a deeper hole for the Twins, the Minnesota lineup began to rally as Nelson Cruz hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh and Miguel Sano would lace a RBI single to right field to cut the lead down to 4-3.

Twin Takeaways – The Bad

The Twins’ deficit was made thanks to the pitching of Lucas Giolito. As a pitcher that is starting to break out in his fourth major league season, Giolito earned his AL-leading 11th win of the season while holding the Twins to just one hit in five innings of work and would have had an even bigger day if it weren’t for the lengthy rain delay.

Once Giolito was out of the game, the White Sox went to work on reliever Tyler Duffey. Duffey had not given up an earned run in his last nine appearances, but the White Sox laced four singles and a hard liner to Byron Buxton to score two quick runs out of the delay.

Up Next

The Twins will get a much needed day off on Monday before opening a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night. In the opener, the Twins are slated to send Jake Odorizzi to the mound, who was selected as a pitcher for the American League All-Star team on Sunday afternoon. He enters this start with a 10-3 record and a 2.73 ERA that is fourth in the AL.

Opposing Odorizzi will be Daniel Mengden, who is 2-1 with a 4.03 ERA on the season. The right hander comes off a strong start against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 26, where he threw six scoreless innings. First pitch for the opener is scheduled for 9:07 p.m. CT at the Oakland Coliseum.