White Sox fail to clinch, fall to Twins 5-1
CHICAGO — With Lucas Giolito facing Jake Odorizzi in the third game of the series, neither pitcher looked incredibly sharp.
For Odorizzi, that hardly comes as a surprise, as he just returned from a trip to the injured list. However, Giolito continued to show signs of fighting to get his command in order and relied mostly on a mix of fastballs and changeups to get through the Twins bats. He gave up two home runs, the first a solo shot to Eddie Rosario in the second and then a two-run homer to Byron Buxton in the fourth.
The White Sox bats couldn't do much against Odorizzi until the third inning, when he gave up three straight hard-hit balls — all knocked down by the wind.
Finally, in the fourth, the Sox broke through with a laser beam of a home run from José Abreu into the White Sox bullpen. Odorizzi was pulled shortly after that due to a blister he'd been fighting all game, which proved to be a turning point for the Sox.
The inning's extended break appeared to do wonders for Giolito as he came out with a 1-2-3 inning that included him getting ahead of each hitter, and didn't give up a run for the rest of his start. He ended the night pitching six innings while striking out and walking three. The score was held at 3-1 until Miguel Sanó crushed a 414-foot, two-run homer off of Matt Foster.
The Sox bats never had an answer, only amassing two hits for the game.
On Deck
The White Sox will attempt to win the series and clinch a playoff birth tomorrow afternoon in their last home game against the Twins. Kenta Maeda (5-1, 2.43 ERA) will take the bump for the Twins against Reynaldo López (1-2, 5.52 ERA) for the Sox.