MINNEAPOLIS -- Every pitcher has a bad day now and then. Even aces.
White Sox ace Chris Sale has never had a day quite this bad, though. The Minnesota Twins are happy it came against them.
Minnesota knocked Sale out of the game after just three innings, which equalled the shortest start of his career. He also surrendered a career-high nine runs, eight of which were earned, as the Twins chased him early en route to a 12-2 victory in Thursday's series opener.
"You've got to play the games. They don't always turn out the way they might appear heading into a game," said Twins manager Paul Molitor.
The Twins haven't had much success against Sale in the past, including a meeting earlier this year in Chicago. In that game, Sale surrendered just one run on five hits and struck out eight Twins batters in Minnesota's 6-2 loss.
In 17 previous games (nine starts) against the Twins, Sale had been dominant. He was 7-1 with a 2.37 ERA lifetime against Minnesota and had 76 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings.
Chalk up Sale's second career loss against the Twins to a seven-run third inning for Minnesota.
"You get on the board early, that's always a good thing -- no matter who you're facing," Molitor said. "I guess it maybe is emphasized a little more when you're facing a guy of his caliber."
Minnesota scored its first run off Sale in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Torii Hunter hit a one-out double and later came around to score on Joe Mauer's single to left, the first of three hits on the night for the Twins' first baseman.
The Twins made it a 2-0 lead on Sale with a run in the second inning thanks to some heads-up baserunning by shortstop Danny Santana. After Brian Dozier dumped a bloop single into center field with two outs, Santana raced around the bases to score from first base to add to Minnesota's lead.
Chicago got a pair of runs back in the top of the third off Twins starter Trevor May to tie the game. Just when seemingly everyone at Target Field expected Sale to buckle down with the game tied, he instead came unraveled. Minnesota sent 10 batters to the plate in the seven-run third inning that included a walk by Sale and a passed ball by catcher Tyler Flowers.
After Kurt Suzuki's single to center scored Mauer to give the Twins the lead back, Eduardo Escobar broke the game open with a two-run single that just snuck under the glove of second baseman Micah Johnson. The throw from center fielder Adam Eaton sailed to the backstop, allowing Escobar to take third base.
Three batters later, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier delivered the knockout punch of Sale, a three-run home run to the seats in left field. Dozier's second homer of the season made it a 9-2 game. For the first time in his career, Sale had surrendered nine runs. The eight earned runs equalled the most Sale had ever allowed in a game, and the seven-run third was the most runs he'd ever surrendered in an inning.
"He had good stuff, just like he always does when we face him," Dozier said of Sale. "When we started getting runners on, obviously they made a couple mistakes, but we dropped a few little bleeders in and I felt like he got frustrated and tried to throw the ball a little too hard. He left it over the middle of the plate. Good hitting teams will capitalize on that."
The Twins believe they are indeed a good hitting team. Minnesota finished seventh in the majors in runs scored last year and, after a slow start that included a disastrous first road trip, the Twins have started to score some runs. That included a seven-run output in Wednesday's 10-7 loss to Detroit.
After that disappointing loss in the series finale against the Tigers, the Twins knew they had an opportunity to rebound one day later -- even if it came against a three-time All-Star and perhaps one of the best left-handers in the game.
"You look back at the past week or so, even two weeks, we've been swinging the bats well," Dozier said. "A lot of clutch hitting. That's what you've got to do to win baseball games. You look back at yesterday, I don't know how we lost the game but we did. Good teams bounce back from that, especially knowing you have a Chris Sale the next day. All around, a good win."
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