Sox at Twin Cities Series Results 
04/28/40: Chicago Black Sox @ Twin Cities River Monsters - Loss, 1-15.
River Monsters Lambaste Black Sox, 15-1
W: E. Sánchez (2-0) L: L. Gonzáles (1-3) S: R. Lothbrok (1).
HR - CHI: M. Simpson (6) TWC: C. Limón (1), V. Guerra (4), R. Cooper (5)
04/29/40: Chicago Black Sox @ Twin Cities River Monsters - Win, 6-2.
Black Sox Solve River Monsters, 6-2
W: A. Soto (3-1) L: T. Morita (1-2) .
HR - CHI: E. Lugo (5) TWC: R. Juárez (8)
04/30/40: Chicago Black Sox @ Twin Cities River Monsters - Loss, 2-3.
River Monsters Win Thriller, 3-2
W: N. Markert (1-0) L: P. Bure, Jr. (0-1) .
HR - CHI: D. Dave (5) TWC: S. Sim (4)
Game 1 Notables: Yikes! Three Sox pitchers – including starter Luis Gonzáles – got lit up in this one. Gonzáles yielded 5 runs on 5 hits in 2.1 innings, long reliever Manuel Peña allowed 5 runs on 5 hits in 4.0 innings, and middle reliever Ángel Díaz gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 1.0 inning. At least they were consistent. Sheesh … 1B Mark Simpson, who’s batting leadoff on some occasions, was the lone offensive highlight: he smacked a solo homer in the 6th to account for 100 percent of Chicago’s scoring in this one … Player of the Game: Chris Limón, Twin Cities third baseman, who went 3-4 with 2 doubles, a home run, a walk, 2 RBIs and 4 runs scored … Cliché of the Game: “We did more than enough to get the win,” said Twin Cities 1B Victor Guerra, who had a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning.
Game 2 Notables: Starter Alejandro Soto pitched a nice game, going 8.2 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 5 Ks. His PQS score: 3 … DH Emilio Lugo was the offensive star, cranking a 3-run homer in the 1st inning to put Chicago on top from the get-go … Player of the Game: Alejandro Soto … Cliché of the Game: “It’s nice to come out on top today,” said DH Emilio Lugo.
Game 3 Notables: Amayas Moelling impressed the boys at BNN enough to award him the Player of the Game in this one, but PQS tells another story: he scored just a “1,” which is, well, not good. He didn’t last into the 7th inning, he didn’t yield fewer hits than innings pitched, he didn’t strike out 5 batters, and his K’s didn’t outnumber his BBs by a 3-1 margin. His sole PQS point was for surrendering 0 HRs … Pavel Bure, Jr. gacked up the game in the bottom of the 11th by giving up a walk-off homer to Twin Cities Catcher Sang-duk Sim … C Diesel Dave smacked a 2-run homer in the 4th to account for Chicago’s scoring … Player of the Game: Amayas Moelling … Cliché of the Game: “It was a solid team effort,” said Sang-duk Sim.
In Sum: Quite the turnaround from the series in Chicago, where the Sox swept four games from the River Monsters. The jury is still out on Luis Gonzáles in the starting rotation, although it’s not clear who the Sox would replace him with – surely not the struggling Manuel Peña. For all their struggles on the mound, in fact, the Sox rank 6th out of 16 Frick League teams for team ERA – and 5th for starters’ ERA. That’s no doubt aided considerably by the team’s defensive transformation: last season, playing as the Huntsville Phantoms, the team consistently hovered near the bottom of league rankings for defensive efficiency and zone rating. Through the first month of this season, the Sox rank 1st in the FL for Defensive Efficiency (.710) and 2nd for Zone Rating (+6.1). It's also partly, we would hazard, a function of playing in Black Sox Park, which is considerably more pitcher-friendly than The Opera House in Huntsville.
