Minnesota delivers knockout blow with five-run fifth inning after 16-minute interruption
John Danks found himself in a precarious position in the fifth inning, trying to protect a newly tied game against Joe Mauer as a downpour quickly swept over Target Field. A walk put runners on first and second with nobody out, after which the umpires stopped the game and called for the grounds crew with the game tied at 3.
The rain delay was a brief 16 minutes, but it put a "to be continued..." cliffhanger on the inning. When play resumed, Danks plummeted. Kennys Vargas singled to give the Twins a lead, and after a productive flyout, a 6-4 fielder's choice courtesy of a slick play by Alexei Ramirez brought in another run to make it 5-3.
Robin Ventura gave Danks one more chance, but when he gave up a single to Aaron Hicks to keep the inning alive, in came Matt Lindstrom to make things worse. Eduardo Escobar turned on the first fastball he saw for a two-run triple, and then a grounder clanked off the heel of Ramirez's glove for a run-scoring error. Lindstrom allowed another single before getting the final out, but the Twins already led 8-3, and that turned out to be plenty.
Danks didn't pitch well, allowing three runs in the first by allowing five of the first six Twins to reach, although the out was a double play. He gave up seven runs on 11 hits over 4⅔ innings, allowing a walk and striking out three. He calmed down after the rocky first to allow the White Sox to get back in the game, but he didn't even notch one 1-2-3 inning.
Trevor May outpitched Danks for his first MLB win, although he jeopardized it by blowing a 3-0 lead. After stranding two runners in the first inning, he retired eight in a row before a one-out walk to Avisail Garcia. Two batters later, Dayan Viciedo hammered a hanging changeup to the second deck in left field to narrow the gap to 3-2.
One inning later, Marcus Semien dropped a single to center, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Adam Eaton's single through the right side.
Alas, the Sox offense didn't have an answer to that five-run fifth, and so the game became more about reps. Scott Snodgress made his major-league debut in the sixth, and his MLB career started with a walk and a Vargas homer. He added another walk and a single before Ventura pulled him with two outs. He should be able to lower that 27.00 ERA the next time out, at least.
Elsewhere in notable debuts, Josh Phegley nearly pulled off the hitting version of an immaculate inning. He struck out on six pitches his first two times up, then fell behind 0-2 on his third. He flied out to deep center on the ninth pitch to spare himself some ignominy. Still, he flied out to right on an 0-1 count in his fourth at-bat, which meant all 11 pitches he saw registered as strikes during his 0-for-4 night.
Bullet points:
*Andy Wilkins is still in search of his first major-league hit after going 0-for-4 again. He only struck out once this time, at least.
*Jose Abreu extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an infield single, then added a legit single through the right side later in the game.
*Steve Stone called the majority of the game by himself, which was probably the right call, since there was more dead air when he had a partner. Viciedo did induce a home run call out of Hawk Harrelson, but it didn't sound good.
Record: 63-76 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights
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