Minnesota Twins defeat Chicago White Sox 6-3 – MLB Update
The Minnesota Twins showed strong character to overcome the Chicago White Sox 6-3 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois on Sunday, July 10.
The White Sox seem to have lost it midseason as they have faced a nosedive in form over the previous five games. Having attained the .500 winning percentage, they are now down to .478 and the future does not seem bright either.
The first three innings of the game were tight, with starters from both teams not allowing any run. The deadlock was finally broken in the fourth inning when Rene Tosoni and Tsuyoshi Nishioka added one-run each for the Twins to establish a two-run lead.
Anthony Swarzak continued with his precision at the mound, pitching five scoreless innings before finally conceding a run in the sixth inning. Swarzak conceded just four hits in his steaming spell and was rightfully awarded with his second win for the season.
Minnesota’s batters, on the other hand, continued their dominance at the plate with three more runs in the fifth inning. Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer and Danny Valencia were among the runs in the fifth inning. With a healthy five-run lead at the end of five
innings, a come-back for Chicago was not a possibility given their recent form.
Nonetheless, the White Sox did reply but the effort was not sufficient. Juan Pierre added one in the sixth inning before Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynski added one each in the seventh to take the score to 5-3.
Glen Perkins then made his presence felt at the mound as he held his 12th game for the Twins this season. He pitched in 1.2 innings for just one hit and 15 strikes-outs of the total 17 pitches. His ERA of 1.87 explains the rest.
White Sox still had a slight chance of covering up the lead in the last inning but Sergio Santos could not restrict the Twins from adding another run and increasing the lead to three. The confidence of Chicago’s bull-pen went down and they were not able
to even attempt a three-run chase.
Matt Capps’ superb closing for the Twins added to the problems faced by White Sox. Six strikes from nine pitches made it impossible for the White Sox to chase the three-run lead and Twins got home comfortably. Capps recorded his 15th save of the
season.
The Twins have publicised their improvement over the past ten games, winning seven and losing just three. The White Sox on the contrary have slipped six of the previous ten games and this sort of effort is just not satisfactory if they have to stay at least
reasonable in the America League Central Division.
Both teams have the All-Star break to ponder over their strategy for the second-half. It will be interesting how they emerge after the break.
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