The Twins fell behind the Chicago White Sox so far and so quickly that manager Rocco Baldelli began pulling the stars from his own lineup after the third out in the bottom of the third inning Monday afternoon.
If getting clobbered by the White Sox and dropping to 0-4 for the first time since 2016 wasn't embarrassing enough, waving the white flag with 18 outs to go surely topped off the Twins humiliation tank.
Outfielder Byron Buxton and shortstop Carlos Correa were spared, on a frigid day on the South Side of Chicago, from having to play catch-up, all because the Twins apparently were on their way to inevitable defeat. While painful to watch, Baldelli's subs made sense, given not only the score and situation, but also both players' injury history.
The Twins managed just two hits, none against the starting pitcher, and got a second straight ineffective starting pitching performance of their own in a 9-0 thrashing by the White Sox before a sparse crowd at Rate Field.
A year ago, the Twins won 12 of 13 games in the season series against Chicago, which finished with 121 losses, the most in AL history. The White Sox look a little different in 2025, having started 2-2, but the Twins look much like the same team that went 12-27 down the stretch to stumble out of the postseason hunt.
Baldelli's team has been outscored 28-6 in four games overall with the pitching, mostly the starters, allowing 18 runs in the past two games. In the tracks of Bailey Ober on Sunday, right-hander Chris Paddack allowed all nine runs, six hits (including three home runs) and four walks. Paddack ended Spring Training well, feeling the best he ever had, he said, with Baldelli saying it was the best he ever saw him pitch. This wasn't that. Just go get 'em next time, Sheriff.
The White Sox continued to get good starting pitching performances, this time from former Twins left-hander Martin Pérez, who didn't allow a hit through six innings before being pulled on a chilly day. White Sox starting pitchers have yet to allow a run in four games. The Twins can only wonder what that's like. Collectively, the Twins might be wondering a little too much.
"We're kind of getting in our own way," Baldelli told reporters after the game. "You start thinking a lot when things don't go the way that you wanted. Today was a tough, obviously very difficult ballgame from the very beginning. Two in a row (like that) makes it twice as hard to deal with it."
Chopping off the top of the batting order also had to embarrass all of the players — although not any more than the game's eventual outcome.
Baldelli mentioned nothing about wanting to make an example of any individual, or even sending a message to the group about being disappointed in their effort, or being disappointed for any reason. Taking out Buxton and Correa was just a matter-of-fact function of the situation. Regardless, it does send a message: You guys aren't playing good enough to merit your best players being out there for nine innings.
For all of the bad hitting luck the Twins had in the first two games against the Cardinals, and some against Pérez early on, Baldelli isn't saying that's the only reason they can't score runs.
"You've gotta force the issue sometimes," Baldelli said. "You can't just keep saying 'We're having pretty good at-bats.' You've got to take a game over at some point. Get a bunch of baserunners and bring em around."
As far as effort goes, it first appeared as though Buxton injured himself leaping at the fence in the bottom of the third on Michael Taylor's home run to center. But no: Baldelli used a pinch-hitter for Buxton and Correa a half-inning later. Why let your players give that kind of effort, when it might get them hurt, the team has a very low statistical chance to win, and it just doesn't seem like they have an epic comeback in them right now?
"The last thing I want to do is pull anyone out of a game in the fourth inning," Baldelli said. "The score was nine-nothing, I believe. And to keep [Buxton and Correa] ready and in the lineup going forward, that's what we have to do. There's no other explanation for it."
Buxton has played at least 100 games twice in his career, and Correa missed about half the season in 2024 because of plantar fasciitis. They work hard to stay in the lineup but the manager being practical with their health also is essential.
"I want them in the lineup tomorrow and the next day, and then when we get home for the home opener, I want them to be out there and playing," Baldelli said. "The best way to do it is to get them off their feet when the score is getting close to being a 10-nothing game. We wanna get them out."
Speaking of getting them out, utility man Willi Castro pitched much better than Twins starters lately, mopping up in a scoreless eighth inning. Castro allowed just one hit by throwing two fastballs (one 62.9 mph, the other 53.7 mph), along with 10 eephus pitches between 33.1 mph and 46 flat.
Using position player to pitch is a more conventional way to show you're giving up. Castro coincidentally is one of the only Twins who is hitting the ball well and getting results. Not sure if Baldelli was doing the smartest thing by having him pitch. Castro appeared to get though it unscathed.
Next step for the Twins: have Castro hit a go-ahead RBI that Griffin Jax closes out for a win. It has to happen soon, right?