Chris Paddack struck out 10 in seven innings and the Minnesota Twins cruised to a 7-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Edouard Julien went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs to lead the Twins at the plate. Max Kepler went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs in the opener of a four-game series.
Nicky Lopez and Danny Mendick had two hits apiece to lead Chicago. The White Sox lost for the 19th time in 22 games to start the season.
Paddack (1-1) scattered six hits and walked none to earn his first victory of the season. He threw 64 of 96 pitches for strikes.
White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon (0-1) allowed six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Twins reliever Ronny Henriquez finished the game with two scoreless innings. The rookie right-hander allowed one hit, walked one and struck out two.
Minnesota jumped to a quick lead with two runs in the first. Kepler belted a two-out double to center field to drive in Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers.
In the third, the Twins added three more runs to pull ahead 5-0. Larnach hit an RBI double to right field, Kepler followed two batters later with an RBI single to center field and Castro finished the scoring binge with an RBI double to left.
Julien ripped an RBI double in the fourth to make it 6-0.
In his next at-bat in the seventh, Julien struck again. He hit a 375-foot shot to right field for his team-leading fifth homer of the season.
The White Sox were shut out for the eighth time. They entered Monday with 45 runs on the season, the lowest in the majors and 20 runs fewer than the next-worst offense of the Oakland Athletics.
–Field Level Media