White Sox get trod on in 12th, fall 7-3 to Twins

Sometimes you walk ’em off, sometimes you get walked on. Or stomped on. Extra innings didn’t go quite as well for the Sox as they had on Tuesday. Honestly, this game was way closer than a four-run, 7-3 loss for the first 11 innings.

Things started out well for the White Sox, thanks to Eloy Jiménez. Eloy had hit a 111.6 mph single off of Pablo Lopez in the first. Then, after Seby Zavala worked a nine-pitch walk in the third, Eloy upped it a notch.

After that, the expected pitchers’ duel between Lucas Giolito and Pablo Lopez took over. Lucas went seven innings, giving up only two hits, though one of them was a Carlos Correa homer. He walked three and struck out seven despite a fastball mostly down to about 92 mph, helped by a Twins lineup ready to swing at anything that was heading between first and third that didn’t bounce more than twice and that they thought they could reach by jumping real high and waving the bat straight up.

Lopez, meanwhile, gave up six hits in his seven innings, walking one and K’ing eight. Then came bullpen time.

For the White Sox, Reynaldo López immediately ended the pen’s shutout-inning streak on a Byron Buxton homer in the eighth, but Kendall Graveman, Jimmy Lambert and Aaron Bummer held the Twins scoreless, the latter two even with the Manfred Man hovering. Bummer even struck out the side in the 11th, all on pitches that weren’t in the same zip code as the strike zone.

Unfortunately, four Twins pitchers did the same, though less emphatically. After Andrew Vaughn walked to start the eighth, Billy Hamilton ran for him, stole second, and got to third on a wild pitch with no outs — only for Eloy, pinch-hitter Tim Anderson, and Hanser Alberto to all hit grounders right at drawn-in infielders.

In the ninth, Elvis Andrus walked and made it to third, but not home. In the 10th, the Sox loaded the bases on a Manfred Mann and two intentional walks — they were given five four-finger passes in the game — but Alberto struck out when he swung at a pitch that hit him, and Andrus K’ed.

Neither team did anything in the 11th, and with Alex Colomé on the mound in the 12th, an Anderson error plated the Manfred Mann. Then all hell broke loose.

Not immediately, though, as Joey Gallo walked but a terrible bunt into a force out gave hope.

Out of relievers who hadn’t just pitched two days in a row, Pedro Grifol brought in rookie Samuel Peralta for his first major league appearance. Nothing like a little pressure for initiation. Too much pressure, as it turned out — double, two walks, single, and it was 7-2.

Eloy got another RBI by driving in Hamilton from second in the bottom half of the 12th, but that was it. Anderson ended a miserable day (on which he wasn’t even supposed to play) by hitting into a double play, and Luis Robert Jr. watched a called third strike.

So, no sweep, but a series win. The White Sox fall to 10-22, and back to eight behind the Twins, as they head off to Cincinnati to play in Great American Ballpark — which is a heck of a lot better name for a stadium than Guaranteed Rate. The series starts on Friday night, with Lance Lynn on the bump.