Minnesota Twins get well at White Sox's expense

On the morning of Monday, April 22 -- only eight days ago -- the Minnesota Twins were reeling with a 7-13 record. They had lost six of their previous seven games.

Then the White Sox showed up in Minneapolis.

Since that time, the Twins have won eight consecutive games, including five over the South Siders. The latest Minnesota win came Monday night, a 3-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

The score was tied, 2-2, heading into the ninth inning. However, Byron Buxton doubled to lead off the top of the ninth against Sox reliever John Brebbia (0-1) and scored moments later on a single by Max Kepler, providing Minnesota with the winning run.

The Sox had their chance in the bottom of the inning. Danny Mendick walked, and with two outs, he advanced to third on a bloop single by Robbie Grossman. However, Minnesota left-hander Caleb Thielbar secured his second save of the season by striking out Korey Lee on a slow curve.

After three consecutive rough starts, during which he allowed 17 earned runs over 11.2 innings, Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet had a bounce-back outing. He pitched five innings, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Santana in the top of the second. He gave up just two hits while striking out seven and walking one. 

Crochet retired the final 11 Minnesota batters he faced, but he was removed after only 77 pitches. There was every reason to believe Crochet had at least one more inning in him, but apparently, he's being "protected" for the long haul of the season.

Not that the Sox offense provided much support anyway. They had two runs four batters into the game. Nicky Lopez singled and scored on a double by Andrew Vaughn. After a Gavin Sheets single put runners on first and third, Eloy Jimenez grounded into a double play, scoring Vaughn.

That was it. In a curious lineup decision, Tommy Pham did not start the game for the Sox. He lined out to right field during a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning.

But hey, at this point, you have to trust Sox manager Pedro Grifol. His career managerial record isn't 67-124 for nothing, right?

The Sox are 6-23 this season. There are still 133 games of this crap remaining.