CHICAGO — The Minnesota Twins still can’t solve Erick Fedde, and it’s costing them important games.For the second time in a week and third since June, the Chicago White Sox starting pitcher stymied the Twins’ offense in a 4-1 win at Rate Field on Friday night. Six days after beating the Twins in Minneapolis, Fedde limited them to three hits over five scoreless innings.Zebby Matthews allowed four runs and surrendered three home runs as the Twins dropped seven games behind Chicago in the American League Central. The Twins also dropped 4 1/2 behind in the AL wild-card race as the Cleveland Guardians walked the Detroit Tigers off twice in a day-night doubleheader.“We definitely have to rinse this one off, come back (Saturday) and just try to get on a hot streak as soon as possible,” said Josh Bell, who homered in the ninth inning to break up a shutout.Since returning from pitching in Korea in 2023, Fedde is 5-0 against the Twins with a 1.18 ERA over 38 innings. Against everyone else in that span, Fedde is 16-30 with a 4.47 ERA.When he beat them last Saturday in the Twin Cities, Fedde relied on a near even split between usage of his sweeper and two-seam fastball and often mixed in his cutter and changeup.Josh Bell’s home run in the ninth inning prevented the Twins from being shut out. (Zoe Davis / Getty Images)On Friday, Fedde threw his sweeper 39 times in 83 pitches. He ditched the changeup and threw his two-seam fastball and cutter 20 times each.Though the Twins ran up Fedde’s pitch count quickly, they couldn’t break through against the right-hander.“He did a good job executing pitches,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s been tough on us all year. That’s the third good start he’s had against us, and we have not figured him out.”At a time when figuring it out fast is needed, the empty gas light has been on for several days. The Twins entered Friday having gained ground on Chicago and Cleveland after each lost Thursday, which left them three behind in the wild card and six back in the division.But Cleveland rallied from a five-run deficit in the opener of a doubleheader Friday afternoon, and the situation only declined from there.Two batters into the bottom of the first inning, Miguel Vargas lined a 96.6 mph fastball below the zone from Matthews out to right for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead. An inning later, Braden Montgomery ripped a cutter in for another solo shot and a two-run lead.Matthews, who pitched a gem Sunday to beat Chicago and improve to 5-0 in August, also gave up a two-run blast to Colson Montgomery in the fourth.“It’s tough,” Matthews said. “You really want to go out there and win the games. I wasn’t able to do that. It’s really frustrating, especially coming off the month there. I expect to go out there and win that game.”It’s starting to seem automatic whenever Fedde faces the Twins.Their best chances to get anything going against Fedde occurred in the second and fourth innings.In the second, Bell singled and Kaelen Culpepper drew a two-out walk. But Walker Jenkins grounded into a comebacker. Two innings after that, Culpepper popped out to second base on a 2-1 sweeper from Fedde to strand two runners.Fedde retired the side in the third and fifth innings before handing the game to his bullpen. In 38 innings against the Twins, Fedde has limited them to 19 hits and 10 walks while striking out 33 batters. He’s allowed only one home run.“(Fedde) has an interesting arm slot,” Bell said. “Just kind of tough to pick up the change in spin with the sinker and the cutter. He located pretty well and stayed out of the heart of the zone for the most part. … (He) went over to Korea and remade himself, and as he’s come back, he’s pitched away from heat maps. If he’s going to make a mistake, it’s in our cold zones.”With 21 games left and Byron Buxton out indefinitely, the Twins no longer can afford to be cold for an extended period.“It’s challenging,” Shelton said. “When this game happens in May, you’re like, ‘Hey, we got pitched to a little bit.’ But as the calendar gets shorter, it’s even more challenging.”