White Sox 4, Twins 0: Giolito dominates Twins in matinee

In the eighth inning of the Twins’ 14-4 romp over the White Sox on Tuesday night, Fox Sports North color commentator Roy Smalley declared that he wanted the home team to save some of their runs for the next day, fearing the wrath of the law of averages.

Well, Roy, you were dead-on.

Of course, being shutout roughly 14 hours after putting up a 14-spot is more parts facing Lucas Giolito than it is law of averages ... but either way, the Twins were completely and utterly shut-down by the Sox ace on Wednesday afternoon.

The top of the first was sloppy, to say the least, as a blown double-play assisted in providing the White Sox with a pair of runs early off of Jake Odorizzi, including one that was unearned.

The Twins got a bunt single from Jorge Polanco in the bottom of the first frame but didn’t get another hit until a one-out single from Nelson Cruz in the fourth inning. Then, no more hits until a one-out double from Jonathan Schoop in the eighth, but that was followed by strikeouts from Jason Castro and Jake Cave.

No matter how you want to slice it, this one was never close. Giolito struck out five Twins batters in his first trip through the lineup and 12 total on the afternoon. He threw 115 pitches in the complete game shutout.

Odorizzi was just okay for the Twins, giving up four runs (three earned) over five innings with eight hits, six strikeouts, and one walk. He did uncork two wild pitches, including one that led directly to a run. Odorizzi needed 104 pitches to get through his five innings of work — not exactly Giolito-like efficiency.

Now, we root for Cleveland to lose again against the Mets while the Twins lick their wounds on Thursday and welcome Ron Gardenhire and the woeful Detroit Tigets to Target Field this weekend.

Notes

• Nelson Cruz’s single was hit at 117 miles-per-hour. That’s extremely fast, and sadly, it was the highlight of the game for Rocco Baldelli’s crew.
• Outside of Boomstick’s (relatively modest) boomstickin’ the bullpen was the other bright spot for the Twins, pitching four scoreless innings with only two hits and one walk compared with five strikeouts. Tyler Duffey’s spotless eighth inning with two strikeouts and only 12 pitches was the highlight.
• Eddie Rosario left the game in the fifth inning with hamstring tightness as a “precaution”. Here’s hoping that an off day on Thursday will get Eddie back to health for Friday night.

Studs

• Lucas Giolito: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 12 K
• Twins bullpen: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K

Duds

• Jason Castro and Jake Cave: 0-for-6, 4 K
• Mostly everyone else was kind of a dud but let’s just roll with Castro and Cave