CHICAGO - The Minnesota Twins keep running into the same problem, and Erick Fedde has turned it into a season-long headache.
Fedde shut them down again Friday night at Rate Field, working five scoreless innings in the Chicago White Sox’s 4-1 win. It was the second time in a week, and the third time since June, that the right-hander kept Minnesota’s lineup in check. Six days earlier, he had beaten the Twins in Minneapolis, and this time he held them to three hits.
The loss pushed the Twins seven games behind Chicago in the American League Central and 4 1/2 back in the AL wild-card chase after the Cleveland Guardians swept through a day-night doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.
“We definitely have to rinse this one off, come back (Saturday) and just try to get on a hot streak as soon as possible,” said Josh Bell, who ended the shutout bid with a ninth-inning homer.
Fedde’s numbers against Minnesota since returning from pitching in Korea in 2023 are staggering: 5-0 with a 1.18 ERA over 38 innings. Against everyone else in that span, he’s 16-30 with a 4.47 ERA.
The Twins had some traffic on the bases, but they never found the swing that mattered. Bell singled in the second inning and Kaelen Culpepper walked with two outs, only for Walker Jenkins to ground into a comebacker. Two innings later, Culpepper popped out to second on a 2-1 sweeper, leaving runners stranded again.
Fedde didn’t need much more. He retired the side in the third and fifth innings before turning it over to the bullpen. Against Minnesota over those 38 innings, he has allowed just 19 hits and 10 walks while striking out 33 and giving up only one home run.
“He did a good job executing pitches,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s been tough on us all year. That’s the third good start he’s had against us, and we have not figured him out.”
Fedde’s pitch mix shifted from his start in Minnesota last Saturday. This time, he threw his sweeper 39 times in 83 pitches, scrapped the changeup entirely and used his two-seam fastball and cutter 20 times each.
Minnesota tried to make him work early, but the pitch count never translated into damage.
The bigger trouble came on the other side of the ball. Zebby Matthews gave up four runs and three home runs, and Chicago jumped in front almost immediately.
Two batters into the bottom of the first, Miguel Vargas sent a 96.6 mph fastball below the zone to right field for a solo homer. One inning later, Braden Montgomery turned a cutter into another solo shot for a 2-0 lead.
Matthews, who tossed a gem Sunday against Chicago to improve to 5-0 in August, was tagged again in the fourth when Colson Montgomery launched a two-run homer.
“It’s tough,” Matthews said. “You really want to go out there and win the games.
I wasn’t able to do that. It’s really frustrating, especially coming off the month there.
I expect to go out there and win that game.”
The Twins had entered Friday with a little momentum in the standings after both Chicago and Cleveland lost Thursday, trimming the gap to three games in the wild card and six in the division. But Cleveland rallied from a five-run hole in the opener of Friday’s doubleheader, and Minnesota’s night only got worse from there.
With 21 games left and Byron Buxton out indefinitely, the margin for a prolonged cold spell is gone.
“It’s challenging,” Shelton said. “When this game happens in May, you’re like, ‘Hey, we got pitched to a little bit.’ But as the calendar gets shorter, it’s even more challenging.”
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