After smashing 11 home runs in a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians, the Twins appeared poised to keep hitting long balls in Game 1 of their series against the Chicago White Sox. Instead, the clutch hitting completely disappeared and the bullpen folded late to give the Pale Hose a 3-1 win on Monday.
There were some ugly stats in this one. Despite being issued 10 walks, the Twins could only score one run because they were a dreadful 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 15 men on base. The White Sox scored a run in the second, the Twins tied the game in the fifth and then reliever Taylor Rogers, who can’t seem to find any consistency, coughed up two runs in the eighth and that was the game.
The Twins had eight hits, including four doubles, and yet too many base runners were left stranded.
Randy Dobnak gets the ball Tuesday.
Extra innings…
-Not helping matters was that a trio of Twins hitters — Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano and Marwin Gonzalez — rode the pine on Monday because of day-to-day injuries. They need those guys in the lineup.
-The White Sox weren’t much better on Monday. They were 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
-Reliever Rogers has fallen to 1-4 with a 4.86 ERA.
-Max Kepler had two hits in Monday’s game. It would be great if Kepler, who recently rejoined the lineup after spending time on the injured list, provided a spark for the stretch run.
-Jose Berrios allowed one run over five innings in the no-decision start.