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Let’s hope Michael Kopech has a start tomorrow night nothing like what Stephen Gonsalves turned in tonight.
Gonsalves, the No. five prospect in the Minnesota Twins’ farm system, made his major league debut against the White Sox, and it didn’t go so well.
The soft-tossing lefty got through the first inning unharmed, but could record only one out in the second inning. The Sox scored four runs on four hits, highlighted by a Jose Abreu two-RBI double down the left field line.
Gonsalves ended his night going 1 1⁄3 innings, giving up six hits and two walks, while striking out three.
The Twinkies got one back in the bottom of the second off of Lucas Giolito. Tyler Austin deposited an 0-2 pitch into the right-center field gap to score Jake Cave.
In the top of the fourth, Abreu got into some trouble on the base paths. The big man got stuck in between second and third on a pickoff throw from the catcher, but made his way home after Miguel Sano could not handle a throw from second base.
Minnesota added two to its tally on a Cave moonshot to center field. But that was all Giolito would surrender on the night.
Overall, another solid outing for Giolito. He went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out six. He posted a 53 game score, but what was most encouraging was the life on his fastball tonight. Giolito’s two-seam fastball had some nice movement, making it difficult for batters to barrel up when he located it well.
The Sox extended the lead to 7-3 in the top of the seventh on a Matt Davidson two-run home run. Daniel Palka added more insurance with a 108 mph RBI double in the eighth inning.
That would be all the runs the Sox would need to seal up the 8-5 victory. Juan Minaya threw two innings of scoreless relief, not allowing any baserunners. Thyago Vieira came on in the ninth and gave up two runs, but got Joe Mauer on the last out to complete his one inning.
Darren and I will be at the park tomorrow night...hope to see you there!