Sox deke Twins, deliver 3-1 win
CHICAGO — From the second the "Imperial March" from Star Wars came on as the Twins lineup flashed across the Jumbotron, you knew that this series was different. As the top two teams in the AL Central (and noted rivals), there was an additional layer of drama, a palpable tension that seemed to impact both teams.
José Berríos struggled with his command throughout the game and did not appear to be on the same page as batterymate Willans Astudillo. But for all the trouble Berríos found himself in, he never gave up a big inning. The biggest threat came in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded, when Berríos coerced a ground out from José Abreu to stop the damage at a single run — a bloop RBI single from Nick Madrigal earlier in the inning.
Dylan Cease started well enough, but also found himself struggling to consistently command pitches (a theme for Cease this season). The righthander ended up with more walks than strikeouts, and departed after giving up the game-tying run in the top of the fifth inning.
By then, manager Ricky Renteria had seen enough and removed Cease in favor of Codi Heuer, who minimized the possible damage. But perhaps something was left on the mound, because Heuer went on to do a spinning impersonation of Cease, continuing to fall behind and walk hitters and leaving with the bases loaded against a dangerous Nelson Cruz in the top of the sixth.
Evan Marshall entered, and was more than up for the challenge, immediately striking out Cruz on a superb sequence of pitches.
"He's one of the best hitters in baseball, so you try not to make a mistake, try not to walk him," Marshal said postgame. "I started the at-bat on the corner and used three different pitches to get him out. With him, you can’t get in a pattern or be repeatable."
Marshall continued to dominate, serving as the best pitcher from either team for the evening.
Unfortunately, on a crisp, October-like evening, neither offense could do much despite the bevy of baserunners, as the 1-1 score continued to the eighth inning. Finally, in the bottom of the 8th off of lefty Taylor Rogers, the constant walks proved to be too much as Adam Engel (pitch-hitting for Nomar Mazara) faked a bunt and punched a ground ball through the infield, scoring a run.
Renteria credited Engel for his execution of the play after the game, while Engel deflected praise back to his manager.
"Before the at-bat, Ricky told me if the middle infielders vacate, pull back and swing and try to hit it up the middle," Engel said. "After the first pitch, I saw the shortstop had vacated, and tried to hit a ground ball up the middle."
After a Madrigal line out, Tim Anderson followed with a double that scored another run, for a 3-1 White Sox lead.
Alex Colomé finished the game admirably, with the only real drama caused by an Eloy Jiménez misadventure in LF on what should have been a line out (briefly) becoming an inside-the-park home run. Thankfully, the ball was stuck below the padding on the wall and was ruled a ground-rule double after review.
On Deck
The White Sox and Twins are back at it tomorrow night, with Dane Dunning (1-0, 2.70 ERA) facing Ricky Dobnak (6-3, 3.61 ERA).