Kyle Gibson continues mastery of White Sox

Kyle Gibson

Minnesota Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson entered Tuesday's action with an 0-5 record and a 6.05 ERA. He had struck out only 22 batters in 38.2 innings, and arm problems had limited him to just seven starts this season.

Fortunately for Gibson, the White Sox are always willing and able to tip their caps and grab some bench against struggling pitchers. So, naturally, Gibson fired seven innings of shutout baseball on Tuesday. He struck out seven and allowed just five hits as the last-place Twins (25-51) beat the Sox, 4-0.

Minnesota pitchers collected their first shutout of the season in their 76th game. Gibson is now 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA in eight career starts against Chicago. He is 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA in five career starts at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Sox ought to be ashamed of themselves. Gibson is 27-32 with 4.49 ERA in his career. He's basically a league-average pitcher, and the Sox have no excuse for allowing a mediocre pitcher they see all the time to own them in this fashion.

We could cue up the narratives about Jose Quintana (5-8) being a tough-luck pitcher, but frankly, I didn't think Quintana was that good in this loss. He went seven innings, allowing four runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. He served up two home runs to Brian Dozier that cost him the game.

Dozier's first home run was a solo shot in the second inning. His second blast was a three-run-shot in the sixth that effectively put the game out of reach, and it came after some bizarre strategy by Quintana and the Sox.

The Twins were leading 1-0 in the sixth and had a runner on third base with two outs, and Quintana threw four consecutive pitches to Joe Mauer that were nowhere near the zone. Mauer dutifully took his walk. It was quite clear Quintana was pitching around Mauer to get to Dozier.

This was a criminally stupid choice because Dozier is far and away the hottest Minnesota hitter right now. The Twins second baseman is on a 10-game hitting streak, during which he is hitting .439 (18 for 41) with five home runs, two triples and three doubles.

Mauer, in contrast, is in a 5-for-34 slump (.147) over his past nine games. His batting average is down to .267, and the Twins are basically paying him $23 million a year to be a singles hitter. His days of being among baseball's best hitters are now years in the past.

What baseball world are we living in where it makes sense to pitch around the ice-cold Mauer to get to the red-hot Dozier? It should come as no surprise that Dozier made the Sox pay with a game-deciding home run.

Decisions such as the one to walk Mauer only make sense in White Sox Land, a land where it's OK to tip your cap to Kyle Gibson and blow winnable games at home against last-place teams.