The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins will renew acquaintances in Chicago on Monday after the Twins outscored the visiting White Sox 25-11 in a four-game sweep last week.
While Minnesota has kept winning, carrying a seven-game winning streak into the series opener, Chicago also has found a long-awaited groove, too.
The White Sox doubled their season win total over the weekend, earning a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. Friday’s victory saw Chicago score a season-best nine runs. The White Sox scored eight runs the following night and collected 12 hits in a 4-2 victory on Sunday.
“We did a lot of good things on all facets of the baseball,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.
Now comes a new challenge: Maintaining that momentum against a Twins team that boasts plenty of recent success against the White Sox, winning 13 of the past 17 meetings between the American League Central rivals.
Monday’s pitching matchup is a rematch of Wednesday’s 6-3 Minnesota victory, when Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (1-1, 3.45 ERA) defeated White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet (1-4, 6.37).
Minnesota parlayed its latest dominance of the White Sox into a three-game road sweep of the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend.
The Twins had 17 hits in Sunday’s series finale, an 11-5 victory in which Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, Jose Miranda and Christian Vazquez contributed three hits each. Austin Martin started a four-run, fifth-inning rally with a two-run single.
Minnesota has scored at least five runs in each win during its streak. Vazquez has been especially strong during the tear, following a recent 2-for-13 skid by going 8 for his last 16.
That includes a pair of three-hit games in his past three contests.
“When you see a base hit or a ball drop for a hit, you take every hit,” Vazquez said. “Yeah, I think the confidence goes up when you see a hit. You feel better. It’s hard when you hit the ball hard to the hands and get outs. So, sometimes you need some bloopers and all that stuff to get the confidence back.”
Against the White Sox last week, Ryan scattered three runs and four hits in six innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. He surrendered solo home runs to Korey Lee and Kevin Pillar, who has since been designated for assignment. For his career, Ryan is 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA in four career starts vs. the White Sox.
Crochet gave up a three-run blast to Castro among the five runs and seven hits he allowed in four innings. That was his only career start vs. the Twins, and he is now 1-2 with a 4.40 ERA in 12 career appearances vs. Minnesota.
Crochet has pitched to a 7.61 ERA in five April starts after pitching six innings of one-run ball on Opening Day, his first outing as a major league starter.
Although he feels “like my stuff is electric right now,” Crochet knows he must adjust his approach while remaining confident.
“I’m getting hit around and I’m kind of wondering why,” Crochet said. “So, I think that’s why I have to get back to the drawing board and iron out the plan a little bit more.”
–Field Level Media
