Rain shortens Lewis Thorpe's MLB debut as Twins fall to White Sox 4-3

CHICAGO – Usually the Twins offense has enough thunder to win games. But when an All-Star pitcher is on the mound and living up to that honor, sometimes you have to rely upon the real thing.

The Twins tried it on Sunday, and it almost worked.

"We had to make something happen to get back into it. And we did," manager Rocco Baldelli said following a soggy 4-3 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. "We just had to make a few more things happen."

Things like making a thunderstorm arrive a little more quickly.

Given the pitching matchup between Chicago righthander Lucas Giolito, who was chosen Sunday for the AL All-Star team, and Lewis Thorpe, who had never stood on the mound in a major league ballpark before, the Twins figured to need every weapon they had. (Well, except for Max Kepler and Miguel Sano, who were given preplanned days off.)

But the game was far tighter than expected. Thorpe showed few signs of the nervousness he felt, and made only one big mistake — a changeup that Yoan Moncada belted over the center field wall to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. Thorpe gave up two runs in five innings, striking out seven.

"I loved the challenge," Thorpe said. "That guy's a good pitcher."

It was hard not to notice. Giolito (11-2) was all but untouchable, retiring 15 of the 16 Twins hitters he faced with relative ease.

"Fastball up in the zone. Mid- to upper 90s [velocity]. Changeup was improved from last year. Slider had more depth that last year. He was up in the zone more," said Twins catcher Mitch Garver, who grounded out and took a called third strike against Chicago's ace. "So we'll have to have a different plan of attack the next time we see him."

As the game marched on, though, dark clouds rolled in, wind began kicking up clouds of dust on the warning track, and fans were warned to take cover. Suddenly, the skies opened up and the game was halted.

The interruption lasted nearly three hours, making it obvious that neither manager would risk his pitcher's arm by asking him to throw again — a huge advantage for the Twins.

"He's a good pitcher who was dealing. You want to win the game, so if that's what it takes to win the game, we'll take it," Nelson Cruz said. "But it was frustrating that we didn't finish up strong."

Yeah, that's the problem. Giolito left the Twins four innings to close the gap, which quickly grew to 4-0 when Chicago greeted Tyler Duffey with four consecutive singles, scoring two runs.

But the Twins appeared revived by the change, too. Byron Buxton doubled once the game resumed, but when Eloy Jimenez's throw was wild, Buxton unsuccessfully tried to advance to third.

In the seventh, their luck finally changed, but only momentarily. After a Jorge Polanco single against reliever Evan Marshall, Cruz crushed a two-run homer 433 feet to center field to cut the deficit in half.

The Twins then added an unearned run, too, scoring on Sano's pinch-hit single. But with two runners on, Aaron Bummer struck out Jonathan Schoop and Buxton to end the threat.

Another error in the ninth inning gave the Twins another chance to get the tying run in. But Alex Colome retired the next three batters, handing the Twins their third loss in four games.

"Late in the game, we had good at-bats. We put ourselves in position to maybe tie or win that game," Baldelli said. "We hit balls on the barrel, just couldn't find a hole. Our guys did their jobs, and did a nice job."

Just not enough lightning.