Martín Pérez threw six hitless innings in a sparkling Chicago debut, and the White Sox pounded the Minnesota Twins 9-0 on Monday.
Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Benintendi hit three-run homers in the first and second innings. Michael A. Taylor made it 9-0 with a two-run drive in the third against Twins starter Chris Paddock (0-1), sending the White Sox to an easy win after they lost two of three in their season-opening series against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Twins’ only hits were singles by Willi Castro in the seventh against Mike Vasil and Ryan Jeffers in the eighth. They fell to 0-4 following a sweep at St. Louis, their worst start since the 2016 team dropped its first nine games.
Speaking of Castro, it got bad enough for the Twins and Manager Rocco Baldelli, that the utility player got the bullpen call. Castro threw a scoreless 8th inning giving up one hit, throwing so slowly the Sox couldn't seem to time him up.
Pérez (1-0) threw 93 pitches while tying a career high with nine strikeouts and walking three. The left-hander retired the first 11 batters before walking Jeffers.
Pérez, who turns 34 on Friday, was an All-Star with Texas in 2022 and helped the Rangers win the World Series the following year. He pitched for Pittsburgh and San Diego last season before signing a $5 million, one-year contract with Chicago in January.
Vasil retired the first two batters in the seventh before Castro singled.
Paddack got tagged for nine runs in 3 1/3 innings.
The Twins just can't get the bats going though. They struck out 13 times on only two hits. Six runs total through four games won't get it done according to the manager.
"Overall we just have to have better at bats," Baldelli said after the game. "It's not as though the bats are good enough. There's a few guys that are, that do look good at the plate, but as a group, we just got to tighten it up a little bit, hit even more balls on the barrel and draw some walks and get on base. You got to force the issue sometimes. You can't just, keep saying, you know, we're having pretty good at bats."
Key moment
Vaughn set the tone when he connected after Miguel Vargas led off the first with a single and Luis Robert Jr. walked. His line drive to left-center just cleared the wall.
Robert hit a sacrifice fly in the second before Benintendi made it 7-0 with a three-run drive to right for his second homer this season and 100th of his career.
Key stat
White Sox starters have not allowed an earned run through a franchise-record 23 innings. The previous mark to start a season was 21 in 1947, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Up next
RHP Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball for the Twins on Tuesday night, while White Sox RHP Shane Smith makes his major league debut.