Thursday August 22nd Local Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins have been in first place in the AL Central for all but 13 days this season, a perch the Chicago White Sox have been aiming for during this extended rebuilding project.

If they can make that big jump in 2020, Lucas Giolito will surely be a major factor.

Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout of the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts for the White Sox on Wednesday in a 4-0 victory for their first series win over the Twins in two years.

Giolito (14-6) allowed only one runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach double-digit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015.

Giolito also matched Cleveland’s Shane Bieber for the major league lead with his third complete game this season, though one was a five-inning, rain-shortened contest against Toronto before he blanked Houston with a four-hit shutout on May 23. Giolito got there this time with a career-high 115 pitches, without a walk.

The Twins were blanked for the third time this year, all at home and also on April 30 by Houston and June 17 by Boston. They took a three-game lead on the Indians in the AL Central into the day. This 13-game stretch entirely against the third-place White Sox and fifth-place Detroit Tigers that began this week looked like a favorable spot on the schedule, but solid starting pitching can make quite the difference.

José Abreu went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for the White Sox from his usual third spot in the lineup, with Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson each producing two hits from their places in front of him. The first three batters scored all four runs against Twins starter Jake Odorizzi (13-6), who was outdone by his fellow American League All-Star.

The Twins were able to hold their three-game lead over Cleveland as the Indians fell to the Mets 4-3 last night. Minnesota is off today and will start a three-game weekend series with Detroit tomorrow night with a 7:10 start, followed by a 6:10 first pitch Saturday and a 1:10 start on Sunday.

 

 

AMES — Still no decision at Iowa State on who will be the starting running back next week when the Cyclones host Northern Iowa. Kene Nwangwu, Sheldon Croney and Johnnie Lang are the most experienced candidates in a five man battle to replace David Montgomery. Offensive coordinator Tom Manning.

Manning is not sure how many of the running backs will play against the Panthers.

Manning says there are more similarities than differences in the running backs.

Kickoff between Iowa State and UNI on August 31st is scheduled for 11:00 AM

 

 

GREEN BAY — Former Iowa standout Bryan Bulaga says his goals for the preseason are pretty simple. The Green Bay tackle and his Packer teammates play their third preseason game tonight at Oakland.

As he prepares for his tenth season the Packers have cut back his work load and Bulaga feels it has paid dividends.

As he enters the final year of his contract Bulaga is hoping to have a strong season.

After playing the Raiders tonight, Green Bay hosts Kansas City in the pre-season finale next Thursday night.