White Sox shut out Twins 3-0 in game shortened to seven innings because of rain

The hats the Twins wore Thursday said “10,000 Lakes.”

Make it 10,001.

With standing water turning Target Field’s infield and warning tracks into mud bogs, Thursday’s finale against the White Sox was delayed after seven innings and called off an hour later, with Chicago claiming a rain-shortened 3-0 victory.

Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas each hit solo home runs for the White Sox, and Minnesota starter Chris Paddack also walked in a run, allowing Chicago to end the Twins’ streak of 14 consecutive Target Field victories against the White Sox.

“The field was just unplayable. It was muddy and probably dangerous to play any more baseball out there,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The batter’s box, in addition to the infield, wasn’t good. Guys were in the box slipping as they’re swinging the bat.”

That wasn’t the reason the Twins couldn’t advance any of their eight baserunners past second base — they’ve had trouble doing that in perfect weather, too. But the steady rain, and White Sox rookie Shane Smith’s 95-mph fastball and changeup, made scoring seem all but impossible. The Twins put runners on base in six of the seven innings but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in suffering their third shutout of the season.

The Twins are 6-for-39 (.154) with runners on second or third base over the past five games.

“Pretty solid,” Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said of Smith, who pitched five shutout innings to earn his first career victory and now owns a 2.30 ERA in five starts. “He’s not a mop-up guy by any means. His stuff is really good. The kid did a good job of pitching.”

Paddack (0-3) was proud of his start, too, but not of his pitches. No, the righthander liked how he fought his way out of trouble that could have been a lot worse. Paddack walked four White Sox batters, three of them in the fourth inning.

“Looking up there [at the statistics scoreboard], I saw ’57% strikes.’ That’s not me,” Paddack said. “Kudos to them — they didn’t chase out of the [strike] zone a lot. … But for me, I love where my stuff is at. I battled. That was probably the hardest I’ve ever battled throughout my career.”

He opened the second inning with a slider in the middle of the plate to Sosa and watched it travel 416 feet, landing about halfway up the bleachers in left-center. But Paddack, who asked that the team wear their blue City Connect jerseys Thursday, allowed only four other hits, all singles, and never more than one in an inning.

That fourth inning, though, had Paddack shaking his head. He got two quick outs, then walked Vargas. Former Twin Michael A. Taylor then hit a dribbler up the third base line and beat Brooks Lee’s throw to first. Paddack walked Bobby Dalbec on four pitches and, with the bases loaded, threw a strike and then four straight balls, the last two well outside the strike zone.

BOXSCORE: White Sox 3, Twins 0

MLB standings

“One thing I’m not proud of this season so far is the walks,” said Paddack, who has issued 13 over 22⅓ innings. “A situation like that, I have to be able to pound the zone.”

The Twins fell behind 3-0 when Jorge Alcala relieved Paddack and served up a middle-of-the-plate fastball to Vargas, the first hitter he faced. It struck the facing of the second deck above the bullpens, 422 feet away.

Correa had a chance to tie the game with two runners on base in the bottom of the inning but took a called third strike on a pitch that StatCast said was outside the zone.

“The grind of trying to figure it out is what excites me and keeps me going,” said Correa, 2-for-20 in his past five games. “Just have to show up tomorrow again and keep bringing the work and eventually it’s going to take, and from there you take off. I’m just looking forward to that day.”