Twins 11, White Sox 1: Jose Berrios and Derek Holland reverse roles

Six days ago, the White Sox and Derek Holland beat the Twins and Jose Berrios by a score of 5-1. The Sox won it rather comfortably despite flashes of dominance from Berrios, and despite Holland showing signs of a fluke.

The undercurrents became the tide tonight. Berrios didn’t have any lapses this time, instead tying a career high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings while allowing just six Sox to reach (four hits, a walk, an HBP). Holland, conversely, trailed after two batters, and was eventually buried under the weight of his usual bevy of baserunners, allowing five runs over five innings.

Adding insult to injury, Rick Renteria had to use three Sox relievers when he only wanted to use two over the final three innings, as neither Mike Pelfrey nor Chris Beck could finish a second inning of work. Beck’s work in the eighth was especially painful, as he sandwiched hard contact between walks and required Jake Petricka to record the final out.

The White Sox had a couple of chances to claw back into the game when they only trailed 3-0. In the fourth, Jose Abreu was hit by a pitch and took third on Avisail Garcia’s single, but Berrios came back to strike out Matt Davidson and Tim Anderson around an Omar Narvaez walk.

In the fifth, Alen Hanson led off with a slap bunt single, but he couldn’t advance any farther because Byron Buxton made a tremendous running grab to rob Adam Engel of extra bases. Berrios wasn’t threatened again, as he finished his night retiring nine of the last 10 Sox he faced, with a Garcia infield single the exception.

Garcia collected half of the Sox’ hits, including a leadoff triple in the ninth that turned into the only White Sox run. Davidson avoided a golden sombrero by coming through with a sacrifice fly to spoil the shutout. The White Sox were outhit 16-6, or 9-6 if you only count Minnesota’s extra-base hits.

Record: 52-79 | Box score