MINNEAPOLIS — Chicago White Sox dropped to 3-22, squandered a two-run lead and extended their losing streak to a season-high seven with a 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Thursday as Edouard Julien hit two of five solo runs at the Twins' home field.
Chicago goes 3-22 against Cincinnati in 2022, Detroit in 2003 and Washington in 1894. Baltimore started 2-23, 1988.
Julien and Ryan Jeffers knocked out Michael Soroka in a three-round sixth round, Julien knocked out John Brebbia again in the seventh and Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda defeated Steven Wilson in the eighth.
Chicago, off to its worst start in franchise history, was outscored 141-56 and had 38 home runs.
“There was no shortage of effort to turn this around,” said Soroka, who pitched five shutout innings before faltering. “It seems like right now there's one thing or another that we just can't get it together and play that complete game. I believe things will turn around. I believe this group is definitely working to do that.”
Minnesota snapped a four-game winning streak, its longest winning streak since winning five straight from Aug. 3-7 last year.
“It was a really good series for us,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We want to get a lot of things sorted this week at home and play well. We were able to do much of that.”
Andrew Vaughn and Korey Lee each had two hits for the White Sox, who held a 2-0 lead.
Julien and Jeffers homered on consecutive pitches at sixth, and Trevor Larnach, Max Kepler and Willi Castro singled in succession against Tanner Banks (0-2) for a 3-2 advantage.
“Beating is contagious, one way or another,” Jeffers said. “If things get bad, it gets bad for everyone. If it's good it will spread that way too. I think we can definitely build on this.”
Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson gave up two runs and seven hits over five innings while striking out six in his second start of the season.
Cole Sands (1-0) pitched a hitless inning in his first major league win. The 26-year-old right-hander was 0-3 in 2022, his only major league decision before that. Griffin Jax picked up two saves in the fourth as Chicago recorded a no-hitter.
Kevin Pillar hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning and Paul DeJong an RBI single in the fourth inning Woods Richardson, who stranded two runners in scoring position in both the second and fourth innings.
Julien's two homers gave him a team-high seventh, placing him in the top 10 in the majors.
“There would be times when I would hit four in a week, and there would be months where I wouldn't beat a home run,” said Julien, who scored 16 times in 408 appearances last season. . “For me, I'm more of an all-around hitter than a power hitter, and my goal is just to stay strong and help the team win.”
NEXT
White Sox: RHP Chris Flexen (0-3, 6.41 ERA) will start Friday at home against Tampa Bay. Flexen's last two outings have come in relief after he gave up 13 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings in his first three starts.
Twins: RHP Bailey Ober (1-1, 4.91) will face the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in the three-game series opener at Anaheim. In his last three starts, Ober has allowed just two earned runs in 17 innings.
