MINNEAPOLIS — Edouard Julien started a fast and furious rally by ripping a 91 mph fastball from Michael Soroka for a solo homer.
Ryan Jeffers tied it with a lined solo shot on the next pitch.
After Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol summoned lefty Tanner Banks from the bullpen, the Minnesota Twins followed with a blooper, a 42 mph nubber and a hard single to left field.
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That’s all it took to topple the White Sox on Thursday afternoon. Stymied by Soroka for five innings, the Twins needed 12 pitches in the sixth to turn around their fortunes against the sad-sack Sox, who lost for the 22nd time in 25 games courtesy of Minnesota’s 6-3 victory at Target Field that capped a four-game series sweep.
The White Sox are last in Major League Baseball in several offensive categories, including runs, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. But the simplest way to summarize their team-wide futility might come from looking at home run totals. Their offense is last in homers with 14 and White Sox pitchers have surrendered the most. Chicago didn’t hit one out of the park on Thursday while running its total of home runs allowed this season to 38 by surrendering five to the Twins, including two from Julien.
This just in: #MLB denied a petition by the #MNTwins to only play the #WhiteSox for the rest of the season.
Twins improve to 11-13 after a 6-3 win Thursday, their fourth victory in a row over Sox.
They head to Anaheim for three before playing three at the Sox starting Monday.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) April 25, 2024
The Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 hitters for the White Sox (Eloy Jiménez, Robbie Grossman, Andrew Vaughn and Kevin Pillar) each went into Thursday’s game batting under .200. Andrew Benintendi, who’s in the second season of a five-year, $75 million contract, pinch hit for Pillar and struck out to lower his average to .165.
The White Sox now sit 14 1/2 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central; they finished 26 games out in 2023 when they went 61-101. But one of the more frustrating things about a season that is already careening out of control for the South Siders — only the White Sox and the Colorado Rockies have playoff odds of 0.0 percent, according to FanGraphs — is that this season’s futility won’t necessarily help them in future years.
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The White Sox landed the No. 5 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. Since they are considered a large-market team, they cannot get a top-six selection in next year’s draft.
Chicago started their potentially historic season with four straight losses, and things have only worsened. After snapping their first skid with a 3-2 win against the Atlanta Braves on April 2, they lost five in a row. They followed a 7-5 victory over the Guardians on April 9 with six consecutive defeats until winning the second game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals. With Thursday’s loss in Minnesota, the White Sox’s current losing skid is at seven games.
The 1962 New York Mets hold the single-season record for losses in the modern era with 120 in their inaugural season. They went 7-18 in their first 25 games.
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(Photo of Paul DeJong, Tanner Banks and Korey Lee: David Berding / Getty Images)