On the mound for the White Sox was Carlos Rodon, who had a fantastic August where he went 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA in five starts. During those five outings he walked just seven batters while striking out 26.

Prepared for an odd pitcher’s duel between two starters that haven’t had spectacular seasons, I settled in to watch the game. What we got was certainly odd, but it was no pitcher’s duel.

1. Rodon was ultra-efficient, going seven innings while only using 79 pitches. A huge struggle for for him this season has been the number of pitches he uses to get outs, as he racks up a large number of both strikeouts and walks. Instead, Rodon only struck out five and walked just one Friday night, though he hit two batters in the first two innings. Despite a large number of baserunners, he was able to go seven quick innings while giving up three earned runs. Not quite the start that we grew accustomed to seeing from him in August, but still highly effective.

2. The Sox offense managed to touch up a pitcher who had been giving them fits in the past. In two starts this season against the White Sox before Friday, Gibson had only given up a single run while striking out 10 and walking four. Rather than stick to the status quo, Sox hitting awakened to force Gibson out of the game after 5.2 innings and five earned runs. Gibson did manage to strikeout asix, including Avisail Garcia three different times.

3. Jose Abreu stayed hot with a three hit-night while driving in three runs. In August Abreu hit .362/.414/.648 in 116 PAs with a .286 ISO. During the month of August, Abreu hit eight home runs, raising his season total from 11 to 19 in a single month. So far, he has continued his hot streak into September.

4. Speaking of hot, Todd Frazier has homered three times in the last four games. Friday, he hit home run No. 35 on the season, a two-run shot in the fourth, which allowed him to pass Robin Ventura for most by a White Sox third baseman in a single season.

5. In a game that bounced back and forth as the Sox worked their way back from a third inning three-run blast by Brian Dozier, the White Sox bullpen stepped up in the last two innings to finish out the win. Nate Jones entered in the game in the eighth when the score was still 8-4 White Sox and pitched a perfect frame. Michael Ynoa pitched the ninth after the Sox had tacked on another three runs, and left unscathed despite giving up a leadoff single.

Team Record: 64-70

Next game is Saturday at 6:10pm CT at Minnesota on CSN

Lead Image Credit: Jeffrey Becker//USA Today Sports Images

1. Jose Quintana was on cruise control without actually being dominant. He nibbled a bit excessively given that he didn’t have his best command (three walks), but escaped from a fourth inning jam with just a single run across when a close call gave Miguel Sano a leadoff walk, and a Trevor Plouffe double pushed him to third.  Quintana escaped the sixth inning entirely by getting a shallow fly out from Byung Ho Park and a weak grounder from Eddie Rosario to strand Joe Mauer at third.

Following on the heels of Chris Sale on Saturday, it was another case of a Sox starter pitching in cold weather and very much looking the part, but Quintana at least lowered his ERA (and got a win?!) in the process.

2. Austin Jackson wound up serving as the offensive hero, despite missing on a grand slam in the fourth inning by a few inches when his drive curved foul. He recovered to drill a two-run single up the middle and stake Quintana to a 3-0 lead that was never relinquished.

Jackson also struck out twice and is hitting all of .273/.304/.318 on the season, but between his series of booming drives hit in vain on Saturday and his solid approach, he could probably help out higher than ninth in the order.

3. Matt Albers has stretched his scoreless streak to 24 games stretching back to last August. Today’s scoreless inning, facilitated in large part by Kurt Suzuki inexplicably popping up a bunt into a double play, kickstarted three scoreless frames for the bullpen capped off by Nate Jones and David Robertson. Albers allowed two hits and generally missed his spots, but 24 scoreless appearances in a row do not come without a little massaging.

4. Everyone in the top-six of the Sox lineup reached base twice, including two hits apiece for Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera and the previously ice cold Brett Lawrie. Which is to say the Sox went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 and still cruised to victory.

5. The Twins look really, bad, guys. They were picked to finish last by many even with the expectation of a capable lineup done in by an awful starting rotation. Instead they have had mostly decent if thoroughly unexceptional contributions from their rotation, but every hitter save for Mauer and Eduardo Escobar have started out ice cold.  Park looks overmatched, and their defense isn’t setting on fire what isn’t already burned. An Escobar error keyed the fourth inning outburst, and Rosario misplayed a ball off the bat from Frazier so badly it went from a potential single to left field to a double that scored Jose Abreu from first in the ninth for insurance.

The Twins are now 0-7 and not showing strong signs of stopping.

Team Record: 5-2

Next game is Wednesday at 7:10pm CT on WPWR for TV and WLS for radio.

Lead Photo Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn // USA Today Sports Images

Minnesota, which went 13-6 against the White Sox in 2015, is off to a terrible start to the season, coming off back-to-back road sweeps against the Orioles and Royals, respectively. Their offense is hitting just .210/.282/.346 in the early going, and youngsters Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have combined to for just six hits and 22 strikeouts between them. Couple that with newly-acquired Korean Byung-Ho Park‘s three hits (but with one home run) and 11 additional strikeouts, and you get the makings of, well, an 0-6 record.  Sunday’s loss was particularly devastating, involving a blown lead, and culminating in a wild pitch-fueled extra innings defeat.

Starting Monday’s home opener for Minnesota is Kyle Gibson, who had a disastrous debut to 2016, walking five, allowing seven hits and four earned runs in a loss to the Orioles last week. Gibson fits in well in the Twins’ stable of soft-tossing, strikeout-deficient pitching staff, as he’s whiffed just 5.9 hitters per nine innings during his career. In 2015 he was unbelievably effective against the White Sox, however, as in four starts he allowed just four earned runs in 29.2 innings with 23 strikeouts and just two walks.

After his Sunday start was postponed, Jose Quintana will get his second start of the season Monday and will look to continue the White Sox’ string of their starters giving up three earned runs or less. In his first start against Oakland last week, he went 5.2 innings (the shortest outing by a White Sox starter through six games) and allowed just two earned runs while striking out seven and walking zero.

Adam Eaton is back after missing Saturday’s game because of the birth of his first child. He was placed on paternity leave for Sunday’s game, with reliever Michael Ynoa called up to take his place. We hardly knew ye, Ynoa.

White Sox Lineup

With Eaton back, Ventura has opted to bump Austin Jackson back down to the 9-slot, although he has certainly looked promising at the plate so far this season.  Perhaps we can chalk up Ventura’s intention to start Jerry Sands against a RHP on Sunday up to a weird situation – players constantly exposed to brutally cold weather, Eaton gone for the birth of his child, etc.  I don’t blame Ventura for wanting to get everybody on the 25-man some playing time, but this would have been his second attempt to do so with Sands against right-handed pitching.  Hopefully that fit of madness has passed, but it is a reminder that Ventura is prone to bouts of inexplicable tactics, and the presence of Rick Renteria may not be enough to stop it.  We dodge the bullet at the outset of today’s game, at least.

Top Photo Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports