White Sox 4, Twins 3: Minnesota Gives Up the Lead Twice, Gets Walked Off

[Thiéres Rabelo]

With the chance of tying Cleveland for the AL Central first place, the Twins had the lead twice against the White Sox in Chicago, but they ended up giving up both those leads and ended up being walked off in the series opener.

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Sonny Gray, 4 IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K (59 pitches, 40 strikes, 67.8%)
Home Runs: none
Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Lopez (-.367), Caleb Thielbar (-.205), Gary Sanchez (-.116)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Gordon, Offense Put Chicago on the Ropes Early
Nick Gordon has been living what can perhaps be considered the hottest offensive streak of his major league career – and he simply doesn’t look like he wants to slow down. Coming into tonight’s game, he had been slashing .364/.391/.682 (1.073) for his previous seven games. The White Sox decided to have a bullpen game, bringing Joe Kelly to open the game. Gordon and the Twins took advantage of that.

After the four first batters faced by Kelly, Minnesota had loaded the bases with one out, bringing red-hot Gordon to the plate. The Twins’ second baseman smacked his 22nd double to the right field corner, scoring Carlos Correa and Max Kepler. That was all the Twins could get, as Kelly stranded both remaining runners with a couple of strikeouts, but it was a great start for Minnesota nonetheless.

Davis Martin, who was originally scheduled to start tonight’s game for Chicago, took over in relief of Kelly in the second inning. Still, Minnesota’s offense continued to push forward but failed to add on. Luis Arraez, who singled in the first, hit a two-out double, seemingly putting the August slump behind him. Correa drew a walk after him, and suddenly, the Twins were posing a threat once again, but Kepler lined out, and the inning was over.

Gray Tosses Three Solid but Struggles with Command in the Fourth
Sonny Gray gave up a two-out single in the bottom of the first, but that was pretty much all the White Sox could get off him for the first three innings, as he retired seven consecutive batters after that single. Then, in the fourth inning, things abruptly changed for him.

Andrew Vaughn led off the inning with a double, but it didn’t look too serious after Gray induced back-to-back ground ball outs. But Yasmani Grandal hit a bloop single off the glove of Gio Urshela to score Vaughn. That was when things spiraled out of control for Gray, who started having command issues. Grandal moved to second on a wild pitch, then A.J. Pollock and Leury Garcia reached on a walk and a single, respectively, to load the bases.

Facing Josh Harrison, all Gray needed was another out to end the threat. Instead, he (barely) brushed Harrison’s forearm with a fastball, and the game was tied. Gray got the final out to limit the damage, but, despite his pitch count not having reached 60, Rocco Baldelli decided he was done. At four innings pitched, this was Gray’s shortest start since July 14, tied for his third shortest start of the season.

During the seventh inning, it was reported that Gray left the game due to some right hamstring tightness. The injury must have been caused by the last play of the third inning when Gray fielded a comebacker on the infield before throwing to Arráez at first. He clearly grabbed his hamstring after the play.

Bullpen does a Good Job, Gordon Comes Through Again…
After Gray’s injury, the bullpen had their work cut out for them, having to throw at least five innings. Michael Fulmer gave up back-to-back two-out singles in the fifth but eventually got the final out. Then, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran combined for a couple of quick, scoreless frames. Came the eighth inning, with the game tied, the offense showed up again.

After the productive first two innings, the Twins’ lineup went quietly for most of the game, going 2-for-17 after Correa’s second-inning walk. But the bats came back to life in the eighth. Facing reliever Jimmy Lambert, Kepler got an infield leadoff single but ended up at second base on a throwing error from Harrison. Jose Miranda followed that with a single of his own, moving Kepler to third. Gordon stepped up to the plate and got his third run batted in on a ground out, putting the Twins back in front.

…but the Sox Tied the Game, Walk it off
After four consecutive scoreless appearances and nine out of the previous ten, Caleb Thielbar came in to try and keep the one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth. After retiring Eloy Jimenez to open the inning, he couldn’t get past Grandal, who crushed a game-tying solo shot to the left field corner.

Gilberto Celestino got a single in the top of the ninth, but the Twins couldn’t capitalize. Then, with Jorge López pitching in the bottom of the inning, Chicago loaded the bases on back-to-back singles and a hit batter that caused the benches to clear. Next, López seemingly hit Abreu, ending the game, but after a challenge, the call was overturned, as the ball actually hit Abreu’s bat.

It was no use, though. As the Abreu at-bat continued, the former AL MVP hit into a groundout that could’ve led to an inning-ending double play, but Correa couldn’t fire the throw to first, allowing Romy Gonzalez to score the winning run.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
Game two of the series is scheduled for tomorrow, with the first pitch at 6:15 pm CDT. Tyler Mahle (4.17 ERA) toes the rubber for Minnesota, while Dylan Cease (2.27 ERA) gets the start for Chicago.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Moran	0	0	52	0	0	52
Jax	17	8	0	0	20	45
Thielbar	15	13	0	0	13	41
Megill	0	23	14	0	0	37
Fulmer	0	13	0	0	17	30
Duran	14	0	0	0	11	25
López	9	0	0	0	13	22
Pagán	0	21	0	0	0	21

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[Unwinder]

That ending was chaos. Madness. I'm not even really mad they lost because it was so wild.

[h2oface]

"I don't like how that entire group ends up on our mound!"

That’s what….. nevermind….. Yaaaaa! Get off of our mound!!! (Even, though, technically, it is their mound). Baseball players are sooooooooo tough.

Hey.... it's right there in front of us..........

[KirbyDome89]

The benches clearing was on Lopez. Vaughn was obviously (rightly) pissed about a pitch that missed his face by 6 inches. He literally put his head down out of the box, started towards 1B, shaking his head, and was taking off his gear when Lopez started barking at him and escalated the situation. This wasn't about whether or not the HPB was on purpose, it was about where the pitch was. 

[bighat]

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

[Riverbrian]

7 minutes ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

Personally, I wouldn't let "Some guy on Twitter" fool you. But, that's just me. ?

[Peter]

Brutal loss last night. Hope twins can flush this down toilet/put in rear view mirror, need to win this series/split with Yankees somehow someway stay even with Cleveland. Must must must score with runners in scoring position!!! Can’t afford to leave them on base/let Sox back into game and win. 

[mikelink45]

10 minutes ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

That is quite a list - Duffey, gone, Pagan missing in action, and now Lopez who has not impressed me as our designated closer.  He has now blown 3 saves.  He  has a 3.09 ERA for us and a 1.371 whip as a Twin.  

[bighat]

In unrelated news, Spencer Steer went 2-for-2 with a homer, reached base all 4 times and scored the winning run for the Reds in his MLB debut.

https://www.mlb.com/news/spencer-steer-makes-mlb-debut-with-reds

[Beast]

I’d like to blame this squarely on Lopez.  What’s that, his third or fourth blown save (in few opportunities) since coming here?  But, I can’t.

As unhappy as I am with his performance since being here, this is another failure on the offense.  They, again, blew numerous opportunities to put some big, crooked numbers up early.  It’s uncanny how poor this team is in grade A scoring opportunities.

Baldelli needs to get Kepler out of the 3/4 hole.  All he does is hit impotent ground balls to middle infielders.  He’s like a jugs machine set up by a coach to practice tailor made double plays.  He’s a rally serial killer.

We burned our best starting pitcher (and maybe lost him for the stretch run) and best bullpen arms, while they used an opener.  The cherry on top is lighting a fire in their gut by throwing at one of their best players’ head.  Did you see that celebration?  They know that was a monster game.  You could almost see their failures all year evaporate.  I feel a sweep coming on.  

We just left the door wide open for the Sox.  They’re taking this division now. 

[Peter]

I hope your wrong on sox sweep/winning division ???no way. If twins don’t win division I feel it’s wasted season. They have lead most of season. Mahle/Lopez are starting to feel like busts but are only 1 back of Cleveland. Need to win these type of games especially with runners in scoring position. Bullpen needs to step in up as well starting pitching!!! 0 margin for error as it’s September and must must must win every game!!!

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

Agreed; those two series were more about where the Giants and Red Sox are.  

[Nashvilletwin]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

This includes 4 games against Cleveland with a WE% of 89% and above and 6 games overall. Geez. 

[Karbo]

IMO its time to give closer duty to Duran. Let Lopez be the "stopper" and Duran the closer. I would think with Lopez being a starter most of his career he could even be a 2 inning "stopper" to ease the burden of all the innings required with this starting staff.

[wabene]

I have never seen a Twins manager jump into the fray so quickly and decisively. He got it exactly right, they wanted to win and hitting a batter would not help in that goal, so he led the charge to defend his squad on the mound that was the Twins mound in that half inning. Baldelli is described as too passive. Just remember still waters run deep. 

[chinmusic]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

Twins have won the season series against 4 of 5 AL East teams (with Yankees pending)

This is also who the Twins are.

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, Beast said:

I’d like to blame this squarely on Lopez.  What’s that, his third or fourth blown save (in few opportunities) since coming here? 

Lopez didn't blow the save, since he didn't inherit a lead.  The honor goes to Thielbar.

Not that it matters.  A run in a tight game is a run, and Lopez's decided the outcome.  Justice is served by the L attached to his name in the box score.

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

It's a damning list, and yet I can't help thinking it's statistically misleading.  74% or even 95% isn't 100%, and we're seeing only one side of the coin - the cases where the game actually turned out to be a loss.  How many 74% chances (in inning X) turned into 100% by game's end?  Three out of four, by coincidence?

Another way to ask is, did this person construct a chart for all the other teams, using the same methodology, so as to see how the Twins stack up by this way of looking.

On the other hand, I manually spot checked another team, a good one (the Dodgers), for 20 or so of their losses, and didn't spot much of anything similar.  The Twitter Guy is surely onto something.

I'd just like to see something I thought was a little bit more sound, is all.  Grumble grumble.

[h2oface]

43 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Lopez didn't blow the save, since he didn't inherit a lead.  The honor goes to Thielbar.

Not that it matters.  A run in a tight game is a run, and Lopez's decided the outcome.  Justice is served by the L attached to his name in the box score.

Beat me to it. 

[ashbury]

2 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Beat me to it. 

[Parfigliano]

10 hours ago, bighat said:

It's not this particular loss that's frustrating, but it does remind you that the Twins are in this "must win" position due to consistently losing winnable games all year long. Some guy on Twitter compiled a list of a bunch of games where the Twins had a very high win expectancy going into the late innings, but somehow ended up losing. 

Don't let the San Fran and Boston series fool you, folks. This is who the Twins are. 

 

Twins offense again fails to step on an opponets throat when given numerous opportunities.

[h2oface]

All the frustration that insued might have all not happened if Thielbar was not put in to replace Duran, and Duran pitched 2 innings. At 11 pitches, it seemed the better call at the time to me. I know that Theilbar has come through a bunch lately, but he also is still Thielbar. And April is hard to forget.