Minnesota Twins postgame report: Lucas Giolito shuts down Twins to take series
The Minnesota Twins came into this series knowing that this was the part of the schedule that was going to get easier. On paper, that seemed to be true. The Chicago White Sox were standing in the middle of the American League Central standings, but far enough away from the Twins and Cleveland Indians, that they weren’t considered to be contenders.
With the run that the Indians had put together playing the White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals to get back into the division race, it was imperative that the Twins take advantage of a softer stretch of the schedule to put some room between themselves and Cleveland in the standings.
Three days later, that simply didn’t happen.
Less than 24 hours after getting blown away by the Twins in a 14-4 laugher on Tuesday night, the White Sox regrouped and countered strongly. With Lucas Giolito and Jose Abreu leading the way, Chicago was able to take two-of-three games from the division-leading Twins and left more questions than answers before the Twins take a day off before hosting the Tigers over the weekend.
Jake Odorizzi has an ineffective afternoon
After a brutal month of July, Jake Odorizzi was showing signs of getting back to his old form prior to Wednesday’s start. In the month of August, the right-hander had put together a solid 2.08 ERA in three starts, but was falling under the inefficient, but effective category only throwing 17 1/3 innings in those appearances.
On Wednesday, Odorizzi was lacking efficiency again, but he was also ineffective. The White Sox would jump on Odorizzi early with a pair of runs in the first inning off RBI singles from Abreu and Matt Skole. After allowing another RBI single to Abreu in the top of the third, the White Sox first baseman would score on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth inning which ended Odorizzi’s day.
It would take Odorizzi 104 pitches to get through five innings and his final line of five innings, four runs (three earned), eight hits, a walk, and six strikeouts isn’t something that’s going to give Twins fans confidence down the stretch.
With the Twins banking on Odorizzi to be more like he was in the first half of the season by not adding a pitcher at the deadline, it’s almost time to panic if the pitching staff can’t collectively pull itself together.
Lucas Giolito tosses a gem against the Twins
If there’s such thing as a dad joke in baseball, one of them would be that the Twins should have used some of their runs from last night this afternoon. Less than 24 hours after putting up 14 runs against the White Sox, the Twins ran into the right arm of Giolito, who silenced the Twins bats by allowing just three hits.
Giolito’s starts against the Twins coming in were on both ends of the spectrum. In his first start on June 28, the right-hander looked dominant in five shutout innings allowing just one hit and striking out four before a rain delay took him out of the game. On July 25, the Twins tagged Giolito for seven runs in five innings, which begged the question of which version were the Twins going to get.
The answer was the previous version and this time Mother Nature wasn’t there to save the Twins lineup. The Twins got a single from Jorge Polanco early, but things were snuffed out as Giolito set down the next nine batters until a Nelson Cruz single in the fourth inning.
Giolito would get out of that inning unscathed and the Twins lineup weakened when Eddie Rosario was removed from the game after the fifth inning due to hamstring tightness. Giolito would sit down the next 12 batters after the Cruz single in the fourth and even though he allowed a double to Jonathan Schoop in the eighth, the Twins went punchless into the afternoon.
In the end, Giolito put forth a true ace performance with a complete game shutout allowing three hits, no walks and racking up 12 strikeouts. It was a performance that the Twins currently wish they could get from their own pitching staff.
A missed opportunity for the Twins
When the Indians were on life support in the American League Central race, they ran into a long string of games with the Tigers, Royals and White Sox with 23 games against that trio and went 20-3 in those games. While that record was impressive, no one was panicking because the Twins would eventually run into that stretch and be able to make up that ground.
In the past three games, the White Sox proved that it may be more difficult than showing up to the ballpark.
With the exception of Tuesday night’s victory, the Twins showed more of the same that has been plaguing them the past couple of months. The starting pitching has continued to turn in inefficient performances while the offense has stretches where they can’t hit off a good pitcher.
The bullpen has also been up and down (although they allowed just two hits in four innings of work on Wednesday) and the injury bug that the Twins avoided through the first couple of months has taken its toll with Byron Buxton and possibly Eddie Rosario landing on the shelf.
Up Next
The Twins will have an off day on Thursday before heading back to Target Field to start a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers. In Friday’s opener, the Twins will send Jose Berrios to the mound, who has allowed 16 runs over his past 15 innings (three starts).
Next. Rosario leaves game with hamstring tightness. dark
The Tigers’ starter has yet to be announced, but regardless, the Twins need a huge start from Berrios to see if he can regain the form that made him a two-time All-Star (including this season) and a rising star in the Twins rotation. If not, there could be even more questions as this team heads down the stretch.