Losses to flawed White Sox team offer worrying perspective on Twins

The White Sox are a flawed team. It was evident in the first inning on Friday night when Carlos Correa reached second base as center fielder Luis Robert misplayed his single. Robert did leave the game later because of lightheadedness, but it's not clear if that affected him on that play.

One batter later, Byron Buxton reached base when shortstop Tim Anderson fielded a hot grounder but rushed a throw when he had time to get set. There was another Buxton grounder that deflected off the heel of Anderson's glove in the eighth. There have been frequent outbursts of this from the Chicago defense all season.

The White Sox pitching staff has been more volatile than the Twins'. And they have a handful of players who are designated hitter/first base types. It's reflected in the minus-26

run differential they carried into Friday night's game at Target Field.

For all of Chicago's flaws, it is now just three games behind the Twins in the AL Central following their 6-2 victory on Friday. And the White Sox are back to .500, at 45-45.

Just in case there are a few of you out there who haven't heard, I grew up in Chicago and the White Sox were my favorite team as a young baseball fan. However, I have not harbored any favoritism toward the Pale Hose in quite some time.

What's troubling is what Twins fans are thinking about their side these days. Because if they blow the division title, it will be because of events over the past month during which they allowed Chicago and Cleveland to have hope.

The White Sox have been unable to get out of their own way for most of the season, with manager Tony La Russa taking heat for some of his strategies in addition to the shenanigans on the field. But they have won the first two games of this series and have former Twin Lance Lynn teed up Saturday, followed by Dylan Cease, their best starter, going Sunday.

By then, the Twins bullpen will either be depleted or unrecognizable after being asked to get 18 outs on Friday.

There have been two players who have saved the Twins' bacon during to this point of the season. Luis Arraez was needed to boost a sleepwalking offense in April. And lefthander Devin Smeltzer, Friday's starter, provided stability to decimated rotation.

Sonny Gray has been on the injured list twice. So has Bailey Ober. Joe Ryan and Dylan Bundy were COVID-19 casualties. The Twins even called up Cole Sands and gave Danny Coulombe a spot start before finally giving Smeltzer a shot in May.

Kenta Maeda is still recovering from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery and Randy Dobnak still has problems with his middle finger. That puts Smeltzer around 10th on the starting pitching pecking order. But he was 4-2 with a 3.92 ERA going into Friday's game. He moves the ball around the plate and effectively uses his slider and curveball. AlkaSmeltzer has been a cure for what ails the rotation.

His task on Friday: Hold off a White Sox offense that was batting .288 with a .805 on base-plus-slugging percentage against lefties.

Smeltzer needed 26 pitches to get out of the first inning. He struggled to locate his offspeed pitches and loaded the bases before Andrew Vaughn whipped a two-run single to left. Smelter was pulled after three innings and 67 pitches before he could face Chicago's batting order a third time. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli played reliever roulette, and it backfired in the fourth when Anderson homered off Emilio Pagan and again in the seventh when Adam Engel hit a three-run shot off Griffin Jax.

The Twins have allowed a flawed White Sox team to creep closer in the division. In addition to needing Bundy to be a stopper on Saturday, the Twins offense has scored only 11 runs over its past four games and two in consecutive losses to the White Sox.

If the White Sox are flawed, but are gaining on the Twins, that's not a great reflection on the Twins.