White Sox 6, Twins 5: Another day, another walkoff

On a rainy night in Chicago, it looked like the Twins might build on Wednesday’s promising 4-0 shutout of Toronto.

They did not.

Chicago’s Trayce Thompson belted an Addison Reed mistake deep into the left field seats with two outs in the 9th, sending the dreadful White Sox to a 6-5 walkoff victory in the series opener. On the plus side, it wasn’t Fernando Rodney?

Minnesota staked starter Jake Odorizzi to a 5-1 lead. A couple passed balls and a sac fly accounted for the first two runs, an Eddie Rosario RBI double followed in the 4th, and then what looked like the key and unexpected blow: a long-awaited Logan Morrison 2-run dong in the 5th. If you want to look for a silver lining from another gutshot loss, the struggling Morrison went 3-4 on the night. If you don’t want to, Brian Dozier is now 3 for his last 42. Cool. Fun.

Odorizzi’s sorta strong start (4 Ks in his first 8 batters faced) sorta gradually slipped away in the middle innings, as he gave up runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings. Former Twins farmhand Daniel Palka (PALKA!) stroked his own 2-run dong in the Chicago rally. Robbie Grossman made everyone miss Byron Buxton even more when his error allowed the sturdy Jose Abreu to score the tying run from first.

Odorizzi finished the night with three earned runs in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched.

Prior to Reed’s game-ender, the bullpen held the line, with Taylor Rogers and Ryan Pressley pitching effectively.

STUDS: Morrison, Rosario (in addition to the double, he had a nice catch at the wall in the 8th).

DUDS: Reed, Dozier, Grossman

ROBOT ROLL CALL:

Woof.