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When Nick Blackburn and Chris Sale took the mound today, most baseball fans recognized that it would be an unfair matchup. Sale has been fairly dominant this year, especially in his past 7 games. Blackburn, who in the recent months, has been…well, terrible, already wasn’t having a great year, and having him face a potent White Sox lineup against a top-notch pitcher was bound to end poorly.
Blackburn only went five innings today, giving up nine hits, with six earned runs, including back-to-back home runs to Adam Dunn and Alex Rios in the fifth inning. He didn’t walk anyone, though, and did strike out three Chicago batters (trying to focus on the bright side, people…). The relief pitching didn't relieve much, as Jeff Manship, Jeff Gray, and Tyler Robertson combined for 2.2 innings, giving up another 6 earned runs. Alex Burnett was the only Twins reliever that didn't give up a run, and he went 1.1 innings, with 1 hit and 1 strikeout. Definitely not the best day for pitching in Minnesota. The White Sox were able to bat around, and with Sale being on, the Twins just weren't able to climb out of the early hole they were in. Also, Adam Dunn had 3 hits, one of which was an infield single. That's just never a good day.
Read the rest of the recap after the jump.
The Twins were able to get a few runs today however, with Darin Mastroianni and Brian Dozier leading the pack with a pair of RBIs each. Ben Revere knocked in the other Twins run with a sacrifice fly in the 6th inning. Brian Dozier hit his third homer of the year in the bottom of the fifth, scoring himself and Trevor Plouffe. Mastroianni hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the 8th off Ohman, scoring Brian Dozier. Other than that, the Twins just couldn't pull anything together, going 0-for-3 with RISP (the saddest part is they only had runners in scoring position 3 times). Just to compare, the White Sox were 7-for-17 with RISP. Can't win them all, I suppose.
Studs
-Alex Burnett-the only relief pitcher to provide relief.
-Dozier & Mastroianni-despite Dozier's 11th fielding error of the year, a stud mention for the 2-run bomb.
Duds
-Nick Blackburn-for some reason, still a starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. I'm convinced they win despite him, not because of him.
-Brian Dozier-11th fielding error of the season.
-The Twins offense-no one with more than one hit, and three batters with none. Poor form.