Story by
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Twins can’t solve Erick Fedde, fall to White Sox
- Story byPioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
- Twins can’t solve Erick Fedde, fall to White Sox
CHICAGO — The Twins won just 10 games in August, severely damaging their chances of making the playoffs. But Zebby Matthews was a consistent positive, on the mound for half of those games and winning all five of his decisions while posting a 2.90 ERA across 31 innings pitched.
But coming off the best start of his career — Matthews took a shutout into the ninth inning against this same team he faced just last weekend — Matthews couldn't replicate that success in a 4-1 loss to the White Sox on Friday at Rate Field.
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"It's tough. You want to go out there and win the games. I wasn't able to do that," said Matthews, tagged for all four runs in a five-inning start. "It's really frustrating, especially coming off the month there. I expect to go out there and win that game."
Miguel Vargas took a low fastball from Matthews out of the ballpark in the first inning, putting Chicago up early. An inning later, right fielder Braden Montgomery took Matthews out of the ballpark. In the fourth, Colson Montgomery hit a two-run blast off Matthews, matching the number of home runs the Twins starter gave up in the entire month of August.
"I thought we had a really good game plan going in," Matthews said. "Two of the three pitches I thought I executed pretty well, but they just happened to go over the wall. That's baseball."
Twins on offense
The Twins six scattered singles through the first eight innings, three of which came from Kody Clemens, making little noise against starter Erick Fedde, who threw five scoreless innings, and the White Sox bullpen.
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They did have a couple of opportunities early, putting a pair of runners on base in both the second and fourth innings, but they were unable to convert on those chances.
Fedde has given the Twins fits historically, entering the day 4-0 against them with a career 1.36 earned-run average in six starts. With five more scoreless innings Friday, Fedde has now given up just two runs in 15 innings against the Twins this season.
"He's been tough on us all year," manager Derek Shelton said. "That's the third good start he's had against us and we have not figured him out."
The only run the Twins scored came in the ninth inning when Josh Bell hit a towering shot to right field for his 18th home run of his season. It traveled 460 feet. Royce Lewis hit a double later in the ninth inning, and Walker Jenkins drew a walk, but both were left on base as the Twins finished 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
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A look around the Central
Friday kicked off an important series for the Twins, who now trail the White Sox by seven games in the American League Central and are behind four different teams in the race for the final wild card berth.
The Cleveland Guardians — who are both ahead of the Twins in the Central and currently are in position to win the third wild card — swept a double header on Friday, walking off the Detroit Tigers in both games. As a result, the Twins now trail the Guardians by 4½ games. They are also behind Toronto, Texas and Baltimore.
"When this game happens in May, you're like 'Hey, we got pitched to a little bit,' " Shelton said. "But as the calendar gets shorter, it's even more challenging."
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Quotable
"We know it's go time. We know what each game holds," — Bell on the Twins, who have 21 games left to play
Up next
Taj Bradley (10-6, 3.85 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound on Saturday against the White Sox. The White Sox will counter with southpaw Anthony Kay (9-7, 4.28 ERA).
