White Sox hold Twins to two hits, belt three homers and rumble to 9-0 victory

CHICAGO – The Twins haven’t even played a game in April, and they already descended into one of the lowest points imaginable to begin a season.

Facing a Chicago White Sox team that lost a record 121 games last year, the Twins were embarrassed in a 9-0 loss Monday at Rate Field, their fourth loss in as many games to open 2025.

Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa were pulled for pinch hitters in the fourth inning because the game was already out of reach. The Twins didn’t record a hit in six innings against journeyman Martín Pérez, the former Twins lefthander who tied a career high with nine strikeouts.

Chris Paddack lasted 3⅓ innings in his season debut, matching his career highs for the most runs (nine), earned runs (nine), walks (four) and homers (three) in a start. The Twins even used a position player — Willi Castro — to pitch in the eighth inning.

Over their four games, the Twins have been outscored 28-6 and have completed only one inning with a lead.

“It’s not about losing the games, it’s about the way we’re playing collectively right now,” Correa said after the Twins fell to 0-4 for the fifth time since their arrival in 1961. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to make adjustments quick because the last thing you want is to go two weeks and this keeps dragging.”

There were no silver linings Monday. The offense totaled two hits, struck out 13 times and never had a runner reach third base. The Twins are batting .143 with a league-low .206 on-base percentage and .436 OPS.

Paddack’s rough start gave the Twins their second consecutive game where they trailed by at least seven runs after three innings.

“I think we’re getting a little bit in our own way,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You start thinking a lot when things don’t go the way you want. Today was obviously a very difficult ballgame from the very beginning. Two in a row makes it probably twice as hard to deal with it.”

It was the earliest Correa could remember being pulled from a game. Buxton and Correa watched the next half-inning from the top of the dugout steps.

“Last thing I want to do is pull anyone out of a game in the fourth inning,” Baldelli said. “The score was 9-0. To keep them ready and in the lineup going forward, that’s what we have to do.”

The White Sox were baseball’s laughingstock last year. The announced crowd of 10,423 offered applause when Castro lined a two-out single into right field to break up a no-hit bid in the seventh inning off rookie reliever Mike Vasil.

Pérez, who didn’t throw a pitch above 90 mph, struck out five of his last six batters. He exited at 93 pitches with three walks and one hit batter.

“When hitters are searching and chasing hits, things like this happen,” Correa said. “You hit the ball right at people, the next at-bat you want to put the ball in play and make something happen as opposed to waiting for that pitch that you can drive and hit hard. Right now, we’re getting caught up in that.”

The White Sox, who went 1-12 vs. the Twins last year, were the more aggressive team. Travis Jankowski opened the second inning with a bunt single. After former Twins outfielder Michael A. Taylor followed with a single to center, Jacob Amaya unsuccessfully tried to drop a sacrifice bunt with first baseman Ty France throwing out Jankowski at third base.

An out on the base paths? No problem. On the next pitch, Taylor and Amaya executed a double steal.

Following a walk to load the bases, Luis Robert Jr. drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. One pitch later, Andrew Benintendi belted a three-run homer to right field, drilling an advertisement sign just above the Twins bullpen.

At that point, the Twins trailed by seven runs and recorded only five outs.

BOXSCORE: Chicago White Sox 9, Twins 0

MLB standings

“I tip my cap, man,” said Paddack, who hadn’t walked four batters in an outing since his second career big-league start in 2019. “They didn’t chase out of the zone.”

Paddack labored through a 32-pitch first inning, despite reaching a 0-2 count to four of the six batters. Andrew Vaughn punctuated the inning with a three-run homer to left field.

In the third inning, Taylor lined a two-run homer to straightaway center, and the ball carried a few feet over the outstretched glove of a leaping Buxton.

The biggest solace for the Twins is it’s still the first week of the season. But with the way they have played, it won’t provide much consolation for long.