MINNEAPOLIS — Robbie Grossman singled sharply to center with one out in the fourth inning, the first hit for the Chicago White Sox on Monday against the Minnesota Twins.
Eloy Jiménez and Gavin Sheets followed with infield hits to load the bases against starter Chris Paddack.
For an offense desperate for any type of spark, this represented a big opportunity.
Andrew Vaughn hit a liner with an exit velocity of 104.7 mph. But Twins first baseman Alex Kirilloff made a diving catch and nearly turned a double play.
“We hit a ball hard right in that hole there, probably eight out of 10 times that ball is in right field and we score a couple of runs there and get back in the game,” manager Pedro Grifol said.
Not on this night. And not the way the season is going for the Sox.
Paul DeJong then struck out, as the Sox came away without a run.
It was another long night at the plate for the Sox in a 7-0 loss in front of 12,443 at Target Field. The Sox were shut out for the eighth time, the most in American League/National League history (1901-present) through the first 22 games of a season.
“Today we got our ass kicked,” Grifol said when asked about trying to stay positive. “You go home and you reflect and tomorrow is a new day. You can only learn from today and then tomorrow you start the day and that’s it. This day is over.
“If you start mentally crushing yourself on what’s going on or what’s happened or our record or what I’m hitting, it’s going to get even worse. You have to start fresh every single day. That’s how you’ve got to do it.”
The Sox continued the worst start in franchise history, falling to 3-19.
“You reflect to learn,” Grifol said. “You don’t reflect to live in that negativity space where it will just continue to crush you if you can’t flush that.
“We can’t deny what’s happening. Our record sucks. But what are you going to do about it? We have to come out tomorrow and get ready to play. You have to forget about today. You have to. Learn and move on.”
Paddack allowed six hits, struck out 10 and didn’t surrender a walk in seven innings.
“He was throwing everything for strikes,” Sox second baseman Nicky Lopez said. “He had four pitches working. It seemed like he had that high fastball that was working and then he worked off of that as well. He’s done it for a while and sometimes you run into him on a good day and he was sharp.”
Lopez and third baseman Danny Mendick each had two hits. The Sox finished with eight hits in the game.
Sox pitcher Jonathan Cannon — making his second major-league start — allowed six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 3 2/3 innings.
“These hitters are pretty good, and if you don’t execute pitches, they’ll make you pay for it,” Cannon said. “That will be the focus moving forward, working on that execution, keeping balls out of the middle of the plate and just trusting my stuff.”
The Sox concluded the game without Grifol and right fielder Gavin Sheets, who were both ejected after arguing with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook when Sheets struck out looking in the eighth.
“I’m going to trust (Sheets’) instincts on that and I’m going to go out there and from my angle it didn’t look like a good pitch either,” Grifol said.
The Sox lost their fourth straight. They are 1-10 on the road this season, also the worst start in franchise history.
“This game has a way to beat you down and slap you in the face, but it’s a game of adjustments too,” Lopez said. “You’ve got to just keep coming every single day with a positive attitude and hopefully at the end you’re where you want to be.”
