The White Sox split the doubleheader but lost the series, despite a terrific performance by rookie Drew Thorpe.

The Good Guys got on the board early, taking a 1-0 lead with a run in the second when Andrew Benintendi doubled, driving home Lenyn Sosa, who singled. They followed that up with another tally in the third on a Martín Maldonado bomb to left. Maldy has been on one lately, slashing .278/.350/.833 with three homers and six RBIs over his last seven games.

Drew Thorpe has been really solid for the White Sox since making his big league debut back on June 11. The 23-year-old came to Chicago as part of the package for Dylan Cease earlier this year. The New York Yankees originally drafted the righthander in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft (No. 61) and traded him to the San Diego Padres in the Juan Soto deal last December.

After cruising through the first five innings and giving up only one hit, the rookie surrendered two back-to-back solo jacks in the sixth inning to Brooks Lee and Carlos Correa. Despite losing the lead, he earned his fourth straight quality start, giving up only two earned runs with one walk and one strikeout over six innings.

Michael Soroka came on to relieve Thorpe in the seventh. Soroka had been tossing the ball pretty well out of the pen during June, with a 2.57 ERA over six appearances and 14 innings pitched, but he’s stumbled again in July. He surrendered two runs in his last outing on July 6 and then allowed the Twins to break the tie today, giving up a run on a Ryan Jeffers RBI single.

The bullpen continued its mission to give all Sox fans indigestion when Chad Kuhl loaded the bases in the eighth — but left the sacks packed with Twinkies. In the end, though, it didn’t really matter, as that one run Minnesota scored in the seventh was enough to earn the Twins the victory.

Please support our White Sox writing and podcasts by clicking the Patreon link below:

Become a member!