The Twins finally got a win over the New York Mets on Wednesday and now have a good chance to make it a four-game winning streak because everyone’s favorite whipping boy — the Chicago White Sox and their 27-84 record — come to Target Field Friday for a three-game set.
The White Sox currently are stuck in a life-sucking 17-game losing drought, and given that they shipped off a number of key players in exchange for prospects prior to the trade deadline, the death spiral might really get underway. I don’t expect the upcoming series to be pretty.
Believe me, every manager in the game has the White Sox circled on the calendar.
Meanwhile, the Twins banged out 10 hits in an 8-3 win over the Mets to take the finale of the three-game series.
Byron Buxton hit a no-doubter, Matt Wallner did the same and Trevor Larnach went up against the wall to rob a home run from the Mets. Larnach also cracked an RBI single and Royce Lewis drove in one as well with an extra-base hit.
Starter Pablo Lopez picked up the win to improve to 10-7 with a 4.65 ERA. He made a quality start, but he also has shown better command because he tossed 103 pitches across six innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.
Joe Ryan gets the ball Friday.
Extra innings…
-Reliever Randy Dobnak, aka the “Dobber” on this blog, returned to a major league pitching mound in the eighth inning for the first time since 2021. He worked one inning with a hit, a walk and a strikeout. Why now? Well, he was pitching fairly well at Triple-A St. Paul where he was 9-5 with a 3.61 ERA.
-A 17-game losing streak is rough, no doubt, but in 1959 the Washington Senators did them one better, suffering through a gut-churning 18-game losing spell. On July 31, they lost again to the Chicago White Sox, 7-1.
The (Washington, D.C.) Evening Star
“Unbelievable” is Cal Griffith’s reaction to a personal glimpse of his employees at work, but unless the Senators can wrangle a win from the White Sox today or tomorrow the boss will head for the second All-Star Game at Los Angeles Monday convinced that the incredible is commonplace.
“The morbidly fascinated who are following the Senators’ gloomy trail through the West could find that today’s tussle will be the key to whether the club returns to Griffith Stadium Tuesday night with a 16-game losing streak.”
The Chicago Tribune
“The White Sox put their one-run script on the shelf Friday night and with the help of a Washington give-away program, beat the Senators 7 to 1.
“Four errors made three of the runs earned. Barry Latman helped make it a “laughing” game by holding the last placers to four hits, one of them Bob Allison’s 27th home run in the eighth inning. It was the 13th consecutive loss for the Senators.”
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com