Nice seeing you, Perk.
It wasn't all the fault of Glen Perkins. Okay, the two-run homer in the second to Carlos Quentin, that was his fault. So was his slow-motion pickoff move to first base, allowing Juan Pierre to take second when he should have been thrown out by Cuddyer if he'd had proper time. But Orlando Hudson's error can't be put on him. Or J.J. Hardy's. Or Denard Span trying to push a leadoff double into a triple. Or the fact that the Twins had runners in scoring position in the first, second and fourth innings, with nobody out, and couldn't push across a run.
Combine that with a great game by John Danks, and the AL Central lead is split once more.
On the plus side, the bullpen was perfect: 3.1 scoreless innings from Ron Mahay, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares (even though he didn't record an out) and Matt Capps. Minnesota's 1-5 hitters were 6-for-17 with three walks and three doubles (.353/.450/.529). Alexi Casilla made a nice play at short late in the game, running to his right. Orlando Hudson had a good one moving to his left. Even Michael Cuddyer made a diving stop, even if it was slightly awkward, on a slow dribbler between himself and the line that would have been extra bases.
On the minus side, the White Sox turned five hits and two walks into six runs...with a little help from a pair of errors. Oh, and Jose Mijares collapsed while trying to cover first base and ended up having to leave the game. When Cuddyer dove for the ball, Mijares broke for first to try and cover the bag. Without enough time for a flip to get the speedy Alexei Ramirez, Cuddyer dove for the bag with his glove causing Mijares to pull up. It looked like he just fell over for no reason, but he apparently injured "the outside of his knee" and will receive an MRI.
And you'll notice I've mentioned both Hardy and Casilla at short, which is because Hardy's wrist is apparently sore again. It sounds like he'll try to avoid the disabled list this time.
Oh. One more injury note:
Then there's the toe injury on Rauch's right foot. During the game, Twins radio analyst Dan Gladden said Rauch might have hurt himself by kicking something Tuesday night. Asked how the injury happened, Gardenhire said: "On the mound [Tuesday] night, [Rauch said]. Sprained his toe. Really bad, black and blue. He's out for I don't know how many days. Any other questions? That's about enough."
Right. So, two relievers down, one of which could head to the disabled list and the other unavailable for a few days. And now Joe Crede Hardy will likely be unavailable until next week, if the Twins want to be careful with him. Which they probably should be. At least Casilla is ready to go.
It was an odd game for any number of reasons, but the loss doesn't bother me as much as the injuries. If the Twins can pull of another win tonight and take two of three from the Sox in Chi-town it'll go a long way toward alleviating the frustration of further nicks and bruises.
Notes, studs and duds after the jump.
- Perkins' fastball was fine yesterday, as far as effectiveness goes. It was his offspeed stuff that didn't work. Not a single offspeed pitch was chased.
- He was efficient enough, which isn't unusual for a contact pitcher. Guys just hit the ball hard. And when he fell behind, he did a poor job of converting those situations into outs.
- Perkins threw too many fastballs. 18 of 21 pitches to left-handed batters, and 38 of 52 to right-handers. Just 16 of 73 pitches weren't fastballs (22%).
- Joe Mauer collected two more hits today and his now batting .327.
- Delmon Young picked up an 0-fer. He's down to .317.
Studs
Joe Mauer & Michael Cuddyer. Not much else to say.
Duds
Glen Perkins
J.J. Hardy
Orlando Hudson
Denard Span
Delmon Young
6-9 hitters (0-for-15)