White Sox 8, Twins 5: Subpar fielding sinks Stephen’s start

The story line for tonight was probably going to be Stephen Gonsalves’ MLB debut, even if a world-ending black hole had actually opened up around a Bert Blyleven fart. That being said, it really is the thing we need to discuss.

The young lefty only recorded four outs, and was tagged with four earned runs, sentencing him to a nearly Fred Bruckbauer-esque ERA of 27.00. Okay, that isn’t quite Bruckbauer bad, but it isn’t what you want to see. Despite the short start and high tally, Gonsalves wasn’t quite so bad. He pitched a scoreless first inning, and easily could have escaped the second with minimal damage, had the eight men standing behind him given just a bit more help.

That second inning jam can certainly be attributed to Gonsalves to an extent. A Nicky Delmonico triple started the inning, and was scored on a ground ball single to right field. Gonsalves then loaded the bases back up with a walk and a HBP, before inducing a Tim Anderson fly-ball into shallow right field, that Jake Cave, Ehire Adrianza, and Joe Mauer all had a pretty reasonable chance to catch. Instead, it landed in the Bermuda Triangle between them, and scored another run. The next batter struck out, which would have ended the inning in a better timeline. In our lousy timeline, however Jose Abreu hit a two-run double, taking the score to four to zero. Walking old friend Daniel Palka would be the final act for the rookie Twin, and he was sent to the showers early. Alan Busenitz came in and got the next two men out.

The Twins got one back in the bottom of the second, on a huge double by Tyler Austin. He’s been really hot since the Twins called him up, and I’m sure its only because he has like, the coolest first name ever. No bias or anything though.

Both teams would add numbers onto the scoreboard in the fourth. The Sox would do so in an unearned manner, as Miguel Sano missed a catch an attempted steal of third base by Jose Abreu, which allowed Abreu to come home.

For the Twins, Mitch Garver would hit a double to right field. Unfortunately, Chicago center fielder Leury Garcia was injured on the play, and would have to leave the game. That may or may not have shaken Lucas Giolito a bit, because Jake Cave absolutely launched a ball into center field on the next at bat, which scored two runs.

Two innings of goose eggs on the scoreboard followed, as Oliver Drake has continued his amazing run as a Twin. In the seventh, he was replaced by Trevor May. May allowed a single and a home run, to stretch the lead for the Pale Hose a bit further. In the eighth inning, Addison Reed took the mound, and allowed the last Chicago run of the night.

The Twins would pretend to make a comeback. Max Kepler took the maximum amount of bases, by hitting a home run to start things off. Jake Cave took a walk, and was driven in by Ehire Adrianza. The comeback would end there, as would the game.

STUDS

Jake Cave: 1-3, 3 RBI, 1 walk
Max Kepler: 1-4, 1 RBI, Home run
Alan Busenitz: 2.2 IP, 0 earned runs
Oliver Drake: 2 IP, 0 runs

DUDS

Trevor May: 1 IP, 2 ER
Joe Mauer: 0-5
Eddie Rosario: 0-4
Miguel Sano: 0-4. Error

ROLL CALL

COTG

TeamCrazyMatt: The mountain of puns was high, it took some time to climate

Honorable mention to anyone else involved in that weather-related pun chain