White Sox Bullpen Collapses in Series Finale due to…

The Chicago White Sox lost their series finale to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, and the same thing happened to them. The White Sox took an early lead and increased it, only to watch it dissipate due to their flimsy relief corps.

Five walks were issued by White Sox relievers, and in the sixth inning, poor defense helped four of those walks result in runs.

The Twins have beaten the South Siders seven times in their current 10-game winning run. The Twins have already guaranteed the season series against the White Sox with their victory on Wednesday. Thanks to RBIs in the ninth inning by Max Kepler, the Twins won their first two games, 3-2 and 6-5.

The Pale Hose started the scoring in the first inning with back-to-back doubles by Robbie Grossman and Tommy Pham. With a single to drive in Pham, Andrew Vaughn gave them a 2-0 lead.

Chris Flexen, the White Sox starter, pitched flawlessly for the majority of his five innings. Christian Vazquez’s RBI groundout to bring in Willi Castro, who had opened the third inning with a triple, was the only damage done. Before getting the last out of the day in the fifth, Flexen gave up a solo home run to Alex Kirilloff with two outs.

The right-hander required 92 pitches to record 15 outs while giving up four singles, two free passes, and four strikeouts.

The Breakdown

The White Sox bullpen, attempting to preserve a two-run lead, saw things turn nasty very fast in the game.

After loading the bases, Steven Wilson got Paul DeJong to ground ball routinely, ending what should have been the sixth inning. DeJong, though, allowed the ball to elude his glove, allowing two runs to be scored.

When Dominic Leone walked Kirilloff and Carlos Correa in the seventh and then gave Jose Miranda and Kepler consecutive singles, things got worse. The Twins now lead by two runs after both runners scored.

Pedro Grifol explained what’s causing the White Sox to have a 3-8 record in one-run games by saying, “It’s the little things.” “We will be kicked in the asses every night if we don’t clean it up.”

But when the Twins teed off on relievers Tanner Banks and John Brebbia in the ninth, scoring five runs on four hits, the wheels came off altogether.