The Twins failed to take advantage of a bases loaded, no outs situation with the game tied in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday night in Chicago.
To make matters worse, the heart of the Twins’ batting order – Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach – were the ones who failed the enviable task of bringing in easy runners to break open a game that was deadlocked at 4-4.
Correa swung at the first pitch and hit a weak chopper to short and the lead runner was thrown out at home on a force out. Buxton then barely made contact and did the same with a grounder to the pitcher. And Larnach struck out to end the inning with the game still tied 4-4.
In fairness, Correa had a two-run double earlier in the game and Buxton followed with an RBI double of his own. But these are the Twins’ big boys and they’re paid to come through in the clutch. They didn’t.
The White Sox followed by scoring a run off Minnesota reliever Griffin Jax in the bottom of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. They added another in the eighth for a 6-4 lead.
Correa represented the tying run in the ninth when he struck out to end the game.
Now might be a good time for a reminder about how the White Sox were considered one of the favorites in a weak AL Central. But they started the season 8-21 and were on the verge of being pronounced dead before the Twins breathed life back into them by blowing a lead and losing in 10 innings Wednesday and then blowing it again Thursday.
