The same story unfolded for the Chicago White Sox as they dropped Wednesday's series finale to the Minnesota Twins. The White Sox got on the board early and expanded their lead, only to see their porous relief staff allow it to evaporate. White Sox relievers issued five walks, four of which scored with the help of shoddy defense in the sixth inning.
The Twins are on a 10-game winning streak, and seven of those victories have come against the South Siders. With their win on Wednesday, the Twins have already secured the season series against the White Sox. The first two contests saw the Twins winning 3-2 and 6-5, with Max Kepler's ninth-inning RBIs.
The Good
The Pale Hose opened the scoring in the first inning with back-to-back doubles by Robbie Grossman and Tommy Pham. They took a 2-0 advantage when Andrew Vaughn drove in Pham with a single.
Pham added a two-out solo homer in the third.
White Sox starter Chris Flexen cruised through most of his five-inning outing. The only damage came from Christian Vazquez's RBI groundout that scored Willi Castro, who led off the third with a triple. Flexen allowed a two-out solo homer to Alex Kirilloff in the fifth before recording the final out of his day.
The righty allowed four hits, issued two free passes, and struck out four, needing 92 pitches to record 15 outs.
The Meltdown
The game quickly got ugly for the White Sox bullpen, which was trying to protect a two-run lead.
Steven Wilson walked the bases loaded and induced a routine ground ball to shortstop Paul DeJong that should have ended the sixth inning. However, DeJong let the ball slip under his glove, and two runs scored.
The situation worsened in the seventh when Dominic Leone walked Kirilloff and Carlos Correa before allowing consecutive singles to Kepler and Jose Miranda. Both runners scored to give the Twins a two-run lead.
Korey Lee cut the deficit to one run with a solo blast in the seventh.
However, the wheels completely fell off in the ninth when the Twins teed off on relievers Tanner Banks and John Brebbia, scoring five times on four hits.
News and Notes
The White Sox' 6-25 record is their worst 31-game start in franchise history.
Chicago swapped relievers before the game, sending righty Prelander Berroa to Triple-A and recalling lefty Jared Shuster.
Minnesota scored 11 runs in 12.2 innings against the White Sox bullpen.
What's On Tap Next?
After Thursday's off day, the White Sox will travel to The Mound City to open a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Brad Keller will make his first start in a White Sox uniform on Friday as the Cards send former Twins ace Sonny Gray to the mound. First pitch is at 7:15 PM CT and the game will air on NBC Sports Chicago.
More must-reads: