Kevin Slowey implodes again, Alex Burnett helps.
I'm going to make this quick and painless, because the game last night was long and painful.
After the White Sox dropped a deuce on Slowey in both the first and second innings, it looked like the Twins were about to turn the tide of the game by running up half a dozen runs on John Danks in the third. Well, it turns out that the zero Slowey hung on the Sox in the top of the third would be the last outs he'd record.
Slowey was lifted after facing two hitters in the fourth, and while Burnett stranded one of the two runners he inherited it wasn't a sign of good things to come. By the end of the fifth he'd surrendered the momentary Twins lead as Chicago put up three more, moving ahead 8-6.
Naturally the Twins wasted opportunities to take the game back. A leadoff double in the seventh by Orlando Hudson was wasted. Three consecutive two-out singles in the eighth didn't yield a run. And in spite of a clutch hit by Delmon Young that brought Minnesota to within one, Jim Thome struck out to end the game.
So, the Twins pick up right where they left off before the break. Luckily there are three games left in this series, and I'm still hoping for a series win.
What can I say...I'm an optimist.