The White Sox spent most of Sunday trying to solve Zebby Matthews and never really came close. By the time they finally scratched across a run in the ninth, the game was already long gone, and the Twins had a 5-1 win wrapped up at Target Field.
Chicago avoided the no-hitter in the sixth and escaped the shutout in the ninth, but those were consolation prizes more than turning points. The offense kept producing weak contact, and that made life easy for Matthews, who cruised after the Twins jumped ahead 4-0 early.
Jordan Hicks had the kind of outing that can snowball in a hurry. He walked the leadoff man in the first, got a comebacker he handled himself, then watched Colson Montgomery throw wide to first after the delayed play. Hicks still struck out Kody Clemens with a full-count sweeper, but Minnesota kept waiting him out once it became clear he didn’t have command of his secondaries.
Ryan Jeffers worked a walk, Josh Bell ripped a 105-mph grounder past a diving Sam Antonacci for an RBI single, and Trevor Larnach followed with a double inside the right-field line to finish the inning’s damage. Tyler Gilbert took over, but the Twins kept at it two innings later. After Drew Romo erased Brooks Lee at second and Clemens grounded out, Jeffers doubled to right on a middle-middle sinker, then Bell punched another RBI single through the left side for a 4-0 Minnesota lead.
That cushion let Matthews settle into his rhythm. The White Sox didn’t do much to force him off it.
Andrew Benintendi had one ball taken away by a diving Luke Keaschall in the second, and another chance to the center-field area didn’t turn into much in the fifth. Outside of a deep flyout from Tristan Peters and a couple of firm ground balls, Chicago’s contact never really threatened.
The no-hit bid ended in the sixth when Romo stayed patient on breaking balls below the zone and then muscled a full-count fastball into right-center for a single. Antonacci followed with a double down the third-base line to put runners on second and third, but Munetaka Murakami flied out to left to stop that rally before it could breathe.
Matthews carried the shutout into the ninth before the Sox finally put pressure on him. Antonacci led off with a single up the middle, the first leadoff man Chicago had aboard all afternoon.
After Murakami flied out, Miguel Vargas singled through the left side and forced Derek Shelton to go to the bullpen. Jeff Hoffman came in, got Benintendi to pop out, then gave up an RBI single to Braden Montgomery that wiped out the shutout.
The tying run reached the on-deck circle, but Colson Montgomery popped out to end it.
Chicago did get a useful stretch from José Urquidy, even if the damage was already done. The one run he allowed came on a two-out solo homer to Luke Keaschall in the seventh, but otherwise he worked five innings on 67 pitches and kept the Twins in check with a changeup-heavy, all-purpose approach. He didn’t miss many bats - just one strikeout, and first-pitch strikes to only seven of 18 hitters - but he limited the damage and gave the White Sox something to work with, even if the game was already leaning Minnesota’s way.
There were a few other small swings in the Twins’ favor, too. Vargas made a slick pick to steal a single from Jeffers in the eighth.
Doyle misread a ball off the end of Lee’s bat and let a hit drop in front of him. And offensively, Doyle went 0-for-3 while seeing just five pitches, one of them ending in a strikeout.
The larger picture was hard to miss: when Murakami, Benintendi and Colson Montgomery go 0-for-12 with two strikeouts, the White Sox are going to have a rough time against a right-handed starter.
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