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| Ross Detwiler got a win for the Sox? Believe it! |
Fifteen games against the New York Yankees, Cubs, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins resulted in a 7-8 record, which for a rebuilding team is respectable.
The Sox capped this difficult stretch off this weekend by taking two of three games at home against the AL Central-leading Twins. Granted, Minnesota was without Eddie Rosario, its leading RBI man, but the Sox were without one of their best overall players in Tim Anderson, so this qualifies as a nice series win.
Here's a look back at the weekend:
Friday, June 28
White Sox 6, Twins 4: It was not a good pitching matchup on paper for the Sox. Ross Detwiler, who had been signed out of the Independent League earlier this season, was called up to make a start against Minnesota ace Jose Berrios.
Detwiler (1-0) surprised by tossing five innings of two-run ball, while the Sox scored six runs (only three earned) off Berrios (8-4). James McCann and Eloy Jimenez each hit two-run homers off Berrios, with Jimenez's blast in the eighth inning turning out to be the deciding blow.
In fairness to Berrios, he probably should not have been pitching in the eighth inning. The Twins lost in 18 innings Thursday, and clearly, they were trying to get one more inning out of Berrios to save their tired bullpen. Jimenez took advantage, extending the Sox's lead to 6-2 with his 13th homer of the season.
Those two runs came in handy because Kelvin Herrera gave up a single and a home run to Miguel Sano in the top of the ninth. With the score 6-4, Alex Colome was summoned, and he got the last three outs to record his 17th save of the season.
Saturday, June 29
Twins 10, White Sox 3: Minnesota is leading the league in home runs, and it pounded out five of them in this game -- two by Nelson Cruz, two by Max Kepler and one by Sano.
Ivan Nova (3-7) took the loss for the Sox, allowing four runs over six innings. The low-leverage relieves in the Sox bullpen could not keep this one close. Minnesota scored six runs from the seventh inning on, including two each off Josh Osich, Carson Fulmer and Jose Ruiz.
Jimenez hit his 14th home run of the season in the bottom of the ninth for one of the few highlights for the South Siders, who were soundly beaten in this one.
Sunday, June 30
White Sox 4, Twins 3: It looks as though Lucas Giolito is back on track after a couple of shaky outings. The Sox's best starter improved to 11-2 by tossing five innings of shutout ball.
Giolito allowed only one hit, struck out four and did not issue any walks. He certainly could have continued for a few innings more, but Mother Nature intervened in the top of the sixth inning with the Sox leading, 2-0. A torrential downpour followed by some steady rain delayed the game for two hours, 54 minutes, ending the day for both Giolito and Minnesota starter Lewis Thorpe (0-1).
When the game resumed, the Sox increased their lead to 4-0 in the sixth on four consecutive singles by Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu, McCann and Jon Jay. It was a good day for Moncada, who went 3 for 4 and hit his 14th home run of the season in the third inning.
The Twins fought back with three in the seventh off the combination of Evan Marshall and Aaron Bummer, but Bummer rallied to fan both C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop with two men on base to escape the jam.
Bummer recorded the first two outs in the eighth before Colome relieved to get the last four outs for his 18th save of the season. The Twins placed a runner on second base with no outs in the top of the ninth after an error on Sox shortstop Leury Garcia and a wild pitch by Colome. However, the closer was able to retire the last three Minnesota batters without more trouble.
The Sox (39-42) will now host the Detroit Tigers (27-52) for a four-game series spanning three days, starting Tuesday night. The series highlight will be Dylan Cease's first major league start. He will pitch for the Sox in Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader. The series concludes with a day game on the Fourth of July.
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