James Baldwin was still a bit dismayed Wednesday that he had been battered for six runs and eight hits in the first three innings the night before even though he felt strong, had good stuff and kept ahead of Twins hitters in the count.
Pitchers often get into trouble when they fall behind hitters, but the opposite was true as Baldwin lost his second straight game and dropped to 10-3.
Each of Minnesota’s first eight hits off Baldwin came before any of the eight batters took a ball. Three hits, including an RBI double by Marcus Jensen and a two-run double by Ron Coomer, came on first pitches. Three hits came on no ball, one strike counts. Two hits, including Jacque Jones’ two-run homer, came on no ball, two strike counts.
“The league is probably starting to make an adjustment to J.B., and he has to adjust to that,” said manager Jerry Manuel.
The damage Tuesday didn’t come off Baldwin’s best pitches.
“Coomer’s hit was almost a waste pitch,” Baldwin said. “A fastball so far outside I didn’t think he could reach it with Babe Ruth’s bat. The 0-2 pitch to Jones was a fastball up, and he swung late . . . the juiced-up ball went out for a home run.”
Coomer said the Twins changed their approach against Baldwin, who beat them in an earlier game.
“He was getting ahead of us, getting the first pitch in, so we went after first pitches this time,” Coomer said. “He got ahead of me 0-2 and struck me out in the first inning. So the next time I went for the first pitch.”
Manuel says he’s confident Baldwin will adjust. He was encouraged Baldwin steadied himself and shut out the Twins in the last three innings he worked.
Sitting out: Greg Norton started at third base Wednesday in place of Herbert Perry, who developed the same kind of upset stomach that sidelined Chris Singleton on Tuesday. Singleton returned to the lineup.
Rotation update: The White Sox switched Kip Wells and Jim Parque in the pitching rotation. Wells will pitch Thursday’s final game of the Twins series. Parque moves to Friday night’s opener against Boston.
The Sox made the switch to give another day off to Parque, who still has a sore side from swinging a bat against the Reds in Cincinnati.
Manuel said Wells, 4-6 with a 6.03 ERA, is not in imminent danger of being dropped from the regular rotation.
“He has been pitching against very good teams, Cleveland twice and New York twice in his last starts,” Manuel said. “I think if we do anything, we’ll first ride it this way through the All-Star break.”
Moves coming? General manager Ron Schueler said the Sox will trade to improve the team, “when I feel somebody out there can help us, as long as it’s not at the expense of our top prospects.”
Schueler would not name the five prospects he regards as untouchable at this time. One obviously is 20-year-old Jon Garland. He leads the Class AAA International League with nine victories and a 2.14 ERA. Garland, a former No. 1 draft pick of the Cubs, came to the Sox in the deal for pitcher Matt Karchner.
Another top pitching prospect in the Sox system is Mark Buehrle, a 21-year-old left-hander who improved his record to 8-3 Tuesday night with a 7-1 victory for Class AA Birmingham. Buehrle has a 2.18 ERA. In his last nine starts, he is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 12 walks and 39 strikeouts in 711/3 innings.
