Gamethread: White Sox at Twins

Last night was a bummer. No “Aaron Bummer” pun intended. Truly.

It just plain sucked.

Minnesota’s Miguel Sanó had a three-home run night. White Sox lefty Aaron Bummer gave up one of those Sanó home runs to tie the ballgame. And Liam Hendriks, who has yet to find the dominance he had last year, gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Oh yeah, and the White Sox Hall of Fame manager, Tony La Russa, didn’t have any problems with division rivals plunking Yermín Mercedes for hitting what ultimately was a pointless home run off of a position player that was throwing 46 mph. A lot of “oldies” are arguing that it’s disrespectful to hit a home run when your team is up a massive amount of runs. Here’s a thought — don’t put in a position player on the mound for the third time this year and expect the opposing team to take it? It’s so boring, and the novelty has worn off. The Twins are bad. If they want to be good, stop forfeiting games by putting Willans Astudillo in to pitch.

La Russa continues to double down on his comments. But with each comment, he continues to lose respect from his players. Although, after a majority of players commented in favor of the Mercedes blast, it doesn’t seem like the respect was ever there? This team has enough talent to make it far into the postseason, but the player-manager disconnect spells trouble down the road.

The players absolutely shouldn’t change the way they play. Like Mercedes said, “I can’t be another person because if I change it, everything is going to change. We’re just having fun. It’s baseball.”

Mercedes is right. This is truly the most fun Sox fans have had in more than a decade, and it’s time to let this team spread its wings and fly. La Russa can either jump on board or plant his feet firmly on the ground. The “sportsmanship” will still be there.

Here’s hoping ol’ Tone Bone starts flapping!

Lucas Giolito takes the mound for the Sox. Giolito has been throwing quite well, despite his numbers. He has given up a few long balls that drove his ERA up but his K rate, pitch location, and velocity look good. He is 3-2 with a 4.54 ERA at Target Field in his career and 2-4 with a 4.97 ERA and 50 strikeouts on the season.

Chicago’s lineup is pretty much the same. Danny Mendick takes over for Nick Madrigal at second base, batting ninth. Zack Collins fills in for Yasmani Grandal behind the plate. He’s batting in the 7-slot. Adam Eaton moves back to the 2-hole in the lineup and powerhouse Jake Lamb is batting behind Mercedes. Andrew Vaughn still remains at first base in place of the injured José Abreu.

Here’s the lineup:

Matt Shoemaker will get the start for the Twins. On the season, he is 2-4 with a 6.62 ERA and 23 strikeouts. He’s been knocked out of the game in the early innings a few times this season. If the Sox are gonna pounce, pounce early.

Here’s how the Twins look this afternoon:

The game starts at 12:10 p.m. CT. Jason Benetti and Steve Stone call the game for NBCSChicago. Len Kasper and Darrin Jackson will have coverage on ESPN1000. Janice Scurio provides our Six Pack of Stats postgame.

So sit back, relax, and spread those wings!