White Sox 11, Twins 1: Jiménez, Giolito Shine in Blowout Victory

The South Siders’ dominance over the Twins (48-65) in 2021 has been clear to even the casual fan. It was more of the same Monday night, when the White Sox (67-46) pounced early and often in an 11-1 victory.

The White Sox got started as early as they possibly could have, as Tim Anderson, the first batter of the game, launched a home run.

(Stop me if you heard this recently, but Anderson gave the White Sox an early 1-0 lead that ended in another lopsided victory over a far inferior team.)

The White Sox were far from done inflicting damage on Minnesota starting pitcher Beau Burrows, who walked César Hernández after the Anderson homer. Two batters later, Eloy Jiménez crushed one to center that cleared the wall by plenty. Thanks to Eloy’s 454-foot home run, it was quickly 3-0, Good Guys.

With two outs, Brian Goodwin doubled, and Luis Robert reached on an error in his return to the major league squad. The error allowed Goodwin to score, so it was 4-0 after an inning.

By the end of the second inning, the White Sox had pulled away. Anderson led off with a single, and once again, Hernández walked. Two batters later, Jiménez had an opportunity with two on and one out after Abreu had just missed a homer. Jiménez drove another long one, and while this one barely got out to left, it cleared the wall regardless.

(Stop me if you have heard this recently, but Eloy hit two home runs in a game against a far inferior team.)

Just like that, it was 7-0, and Beau Burrows was removed after barely escaping with his life in completing the second inning.

In the fifth, Yoán Moncada singled, and that set up Robert for an RBI double. Robert, whose return was anticipated for months by White Sox fans, finished 2-for-5, as he also singled in the ninth. La Pantera also made a nice catch in the second inning to rob Miguel Sanó of a base hit.

In the latter innings, the White Sox got more insurance runs on a Goodwin sacrifice fly, an Anderson single, and Moncada’s 10th home run of the season.

On the other side, starter Lucas Giolito looked far more like his All-Star self than the more tentative work of his last outing. In fact, this was one the finest performances of Giolito’s impressive career.

A good place to start the discussion of Giolito’s performance would be his eight strikeouts and zero walks. Giolito’s command was strong, and he got 13 swings-and-misses from Minnesota hitters. The Twins finally started making stronger contact in the latter portion of Giolito’s long outing, which can be expected. However, they struggled to square him up, as Giolito only allowed one barrel in the game — a home run by Sanó in the eighth inning, when the game was out of reach.

The White Sox are back in action again tomorrow night against the Twins. Once again, that game will start at 7:10 p.m. Central. NBC Sports Chicago will televise the game, and WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. Dallas Keuchel and Griffin Jax are the probable starting pitchers. Let’s hope it goes as well as tonight’s game did.