Thursday was an interesting day in the American League Central.
The Twins hit five home runs off Gerrit Cole, the third straight dominant Yankees starter they had solved, but they still lost the game and the series to their two-decades-long nemesis.
Minnesota is now 39-111 against the Yankees dating back to 2002. It's an unfathomable run that had me checking to see how the Twins have fared against, say, Boston in the same time frame: 58-69, not great, to be sure, but more in line with what is reasonable.
The Guardians won for the eighth time in 10 games, improving to 27-26 and daring to join the Twins as the only member of the division's above .500 club.
And the White Sox lost (again), meaning they fell to 20-27 since starting the year 6-2. Manager Tony La Russa was widely questioned for issuing an intentional walk to the Dodgers' Trea Turner when the count was 1-2, a move that only looked worse when Max Muncy followed with a three-run home run in an eventual 11-9 final.
La Russa defended the move when questioned by a reporter after the game, saying: "Is there some question about whether that was a good move or not? ... That wasn't a tough call."
It appeared that some question persisted into Friday, as ESPN as of late in the afternoon was featuring prominently a story with this headline: "Was Tony La Russa's intentional walk of Trea Turner the worst in MLB history? A ranking."
Perhaps coincidentally and perhaps not, the Chicago Tribune posted a column as that was all swirling about former White Sox (and Twins) catcher A.J. Pierzynski being willing to listen if the White Sox want him to be their next manager.
