Takeaways After White Sox Bullpen Shuts Down Twins to Win Series in Primetime
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After losing a heartbreaker on Saturday, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 10-1, on national television to win the series. Once again, this young group managed to rise to the occasion.
White Sox Bullpen Elite
When Bryan Hudson was announced as the opener for Sunday's game and Sean Burke was pushed back, it seemed almost laughable in a crucial game on national television. Nevertheless, the bullpen not only got the job done but also excelled in one of the biggest spots of the season.
Hudson would open with 1.2 shutout innings and two strikeouts. After a rough stretch for Hudson, it seems he is finally finding his stride again, with no runs given up in his last seven appearances. It was thought that José Urquidy would get the bulk of the innings soon after, but the bullpen kept on rolling. Jordan Hicks would throw 1.1 shutout innings and three strikeouts.
Hagen Smith would come in after and continue his excellence since being called up to the majors. Smith would throw three perfect innings with four strikeouts, lowering his ERA to a minuscule 0.56 in 10 games. Grant Taylor would come in for two innings and give up the sole run on a home run to Brooks Lee, but there was no more damage done with three strikeouts and weak contact. Tyler Davis proceeded to check in to finish out the win.
All things considered, this was the kind of performance that should make White Sox fans feel slightly better about what this unit can do come postseason time.
Offense Breaks Out
While the White Sox won the game handily, it wasn't without a headache. The White Sox started 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, struggling heavily early in the game to score a single run. The first run of the game wasn't scored until the fifth inning, but they continued to score the rest of the game, finishing 5-for-21 with runners in scoring position.
Sam Antonacci was the type of leadoff hitter we've seen all season, going 3-for-4 with two runs driven in and three doubles. Randal Grichuk came in as a pinch hitter early in this one for Andrew Benintendi and excelled, going 2-for-2 with two runs driven in, including a home run. On the other hand, Colson Montgomery struggled mightily, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and a walk.
Kyle Teel's return has not been as good as fans were hoping for, going 0-for-8 in his first eight at-bats. However, in his last at-bat of Sunday's game, Teel launched a three-run home run to put the exclamation mark on a great win. Let's see if he can build on that moving forward.
Next Up
The White Sox will enjoy this series win with an off day on Labor Day. That will be followed by a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have gone 6-4 in their last 10. The White Sox will luckily miss Paul Skenes in this series, as he pitched on Sunday.
They will resume Tuesday with ace Sean Burke facing Bubba Chandler. After an eight-walk game on August 26, Burke shut down the Astros through 5.2 innings and will have more rest than usual going into this one. Chandler has a 4.30 ERA in 27 games (26 starts), but has walked 71 batters in 136 innings. The White Sox will need to be patient against Chandler to win this one.
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Matthew Singer is a contributor for White Sox on SI. Before joining SI in 2026, he worked for Heavy as an MLB contributor and Cubs on SI. Singer has a master's degree in sports journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He loves sports more than anything in the world.