MINNEAPOLIS – It’s difficult not to notice the damage inflicted by the Twins' offense during the 2019 season.

Their three home runs in an 11-4 victory over the White Sox on Friday night at Target Field gave them 101 through 50 games. Minnesota also has scored 300 runs, making the Twins the ninth team since 1961 to score 300-plus runs over their first 50 games.

• Box score

But for Reynaldo López, the White Sox starting and losing pitcher in the series opener, the Twins’ prowess has no real bearing on his life. The right-hander simply needs to be better.

“For me, it doesn't matter who is in the batter's box or the team that I am facing,” said Lopez through interpreter Billy Russo. “What matters is to do my job. I wasn't able to do it today.

“I left a few pitches up in the zone. I wasn't commanding my pitches, and when you are not able to command your pitches, things like that are going to happen. They're going to hit you. They're going to hit homers and they're going to do damage on your mistakes.”

At one point early in the game, the White Sox actually held a 4-1 lead. They claimed that advantage with four runs in the second against Twins starter Jose Berrios, who improved to 8-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 10 career starts against the South Siders.

Berrios wasn’t sharp at the game’s outset, although he held the White Sox to one earned run over 6 2/3 innings, and neither was the Twins’ defense. That combination allowed the White Sox to build off two stellar victorious efforts to close out a four-game set in Houston by scoring three unearned runs.

But Rocco Baldelli’s Minnesota wrecking crew doesn’t often stay silent. Max Kepler, Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario all homered against López, who allowed eight runs on seven hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings, while giving up an 0-2 blast to Kepler and a 0-1 homer to Rosario. Lopez had trouble locating from the outset and has now allowed 13 home runs over 53 2/3 innings this season.

There have been moments of excellence this season for Lopez, including a 14-strikeout effort against the Tigers on April 28, and only five earned runs yielded in his last 19 2/3 innings over three starts leading into Friday. Opponents also have scored six or more runs against Lopez in four starts.

“It’s been either good or kind of rough,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “The thing is to try to get him through them. Continue to work and we’ll see what we can do to kind of see how we can help him navigate through it a little bit better.”

Catcher Welington Castillo left the game in the bottom of the eighth after he took a C.J. Cron foul ball directly off of his catcher’s mask and was replaced by James McCann. Castillo does not have to go into concussion protocol according to Renteria, with the mask and helmet taking the brunt of the hit.

Yonder Alonso singled home two runs to start the scoring in Chicago's half of the second inning, while Tim Anderson finished with three hits.

If this series serves as a barometer for where Chicago presently stands, it shows the rebuilding White Sox are well behind the top of the American League Central, where the Twins stand. As Lopez pointed out, at this stage for the White Sox, it’s more about judging their own growth as opposed to comparing themselves to a powerful division leader.

“This is just a bad outing. Just turn the page,” Lopez said. “Keep the focus on your good outings that you've been having and try to get a good one next time.”