CHICAGO -- The damage from Saturday’s doubleheader is still being sorted out, with some history-making strikeout numbers being the big takeaway from the day.
The final image from a long day-turned-night was of Dayan Viciedo's game-ending home run that completed a Chicago White Sox sweep over the Minnesota Twins, but there is no way to overlook the strikeout totals.
The combined 45 strikeouts in the two games tied a major league record for a doubleheader when both games lasted nine innings. The Colorado Rockies and then Florida Marlins did the same in 2009. In 2010, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees combined for a record 49 strikeouts in a doubleheader, but both of those games went 10 innings.
The White Sox also announced Sunday morning that according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 17 strikeouts from their pitchers in Game 1 of the doubleheader was a club record for a nine-inning game, passing the previous mark by one. Jose Quintana had 13 of those strikeouts himself.
When the day was done, the Twins struck out 26 times against White Sox pitching. The last time a team struck out that many times in a doubleheader was in 2003 when 27 New York Mets batters struck out against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was just trying to put the long day behind him.
“Thanks. Want to add on? Just keep throwing that dirt on top of me,” Gardenhire joked when asked about the 45-strikeout day. “There was a lot of whiffs, let's put it that way. The first game, we all know, the shadows and everything were pretty tough. The ball was disappearing and not to take away from the pitchers.
“Guys threw the ball pretty decent, but it was just one of those days and it happens. And hopefully we won't be a part of that much longer. It happened and it was a funny day. We needed a couple more (strikeouts) as a matter of fact, and we'd have been OK.”
Strikeout numbers by pitcher on Saturday:
WHITE SOX (26): Quintana 13, Zach Putnam 2, Javy Guerra 2, Scott Carroll 2, Daniel Webb 2, Eric Surkamp 4, Jake Petricka 1.
TWINS (19): Phil Hughes 11, Michael Tonkin 1, Logan Darnell 5, Jared Burton 1, Casey Fien 1.