In case you’ve forgotten, the Twins won Game 1 of their current four-game series with the Chicago White Sox. Don’t remember it? Well, that’s understandable because they lost in walk-off fashion in Game 2 on Monday and collapsed late to lose 9-5 on Tuesday.
The Twins rallied to take a 5-4 lead over the Sox on a two-run home run from Jorge Polanco. That was followed by a meltdown, the Twins bullpen allowing five runs in the bottom of the eighth to hand Chicago the win.
Which loss was worse? For me it was Monday. Starting pitcher Jose Berrios cruised through six innings, allowing only two runs with eight strikeouts. He pitched well for six innings, so why not send him out there for the seventh and final inning of the doubleheader? That made sense to me, and then it all unraveled for Berrios and the Twins.
In the bottom of the seventh, Berrios served up a single, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch to allow the runners to advance. And then the White Sox’s Gavin Sheets came to the plate and hit a three-run home run to give the Sox a 5-3 walk-off win.
Michael Pineda gets the ball on Wednesday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 40-55. They also are now 1-7 in 7-inning games and 6-9 in extra innings. The White Sox are 58-37. Two teams going in two totally different directions.
-The Twins hit three home runs in Tuesday’s loss. Max Kepler hit his 11th, Polanco No. 13 and Josh Donaldson hit his 15th.
-I’ve got nothing else to say, so I’ll end with this: On July 21, 1966 Twins pitcher Jim Merritt tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Washington Senators, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Merritt pitched a complete game three-hitter with two walks and 12 strikeouts. The Twins scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning.