We’re in the 4th week of July and we just saw the first Minnesota Twins of the season last night as the Twins traveled to Chicago for a 3-game series against their American League Central rival, the Chicago White Sox.
No matter what day it is on the calendar, if it’s Opening Day, it’s a good day because it means Baseball is Back! This season could be a lot more fun for Twins fans because these Minnesota Twins have a chance to do something special. They won 101 games in 2019 and, after breaking the record for most home runs by a team in a single season (307), they arguably got better by adding 3B Josh Donaldson to the lineup. That moved 3B Miguel Sano to 1st base. They also added some starting pitching by trading for Los Angeles Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda and signing Free Agents LHP Rich Hill and RHP Homer Bailey. They also added another piece to the bullpen by signing RHP Tyler Clippard. They also added a new backup catcher in C Alex Avila after Jason Castro signed with the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent.
So…a few additions but the core and the majority of the Minnesota Twins stayed the same and that’s a good thing. RHP Jose Berrios takes the mound for Opening Day and here’s the lineup for Game 1:
RF Max Kepler
3B Josh Donaldson
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
C Mitch Garver
CF Jake Cave
1B Miguel Sano
2B Luis Arraez
That lineup is pretty amazing. We’ll see how teams try to get around it through the next 9 and a half weeks. It won’t be easy but it will be fun to watch as we found out in the first game.
The Twins have had a more aggressive mentality at the plate since signing Nelson Cruz and since having Rocco Baldelli as their manager. That means they are always ready to hit no matter what the count or how many pitches have been thrown in the game or, as we found out last night, the season.
On the very first pitch of the very first game, Max Kepler launched the first HR of the season into the right field seats and Here…We…GO!
MAX-A-MILLIAN!!!!
— Robb Dahlen (@TwinsTakes_com) July 25, 2020
YEAH, BABY!!!
One Pitch, One Run as Max Kepler hits the #MNTwins 1st HR of the season on the 1st pitch of the season!!!
Josh Donaldson earned a walk in his first at-bat as a Twin then Jorge Polanco grounded out to short in a play that probably should’ve turned 2 but White Sox 2B Leury Garcia couldn’t make the exchange to his throwing hand after catching the ball and stepping on 2nd base. Nelson Cruz singled and a Wild Pitch advanced Cruz & Polanco to 2nd & 3rd. Eddie Rosario walked, which got a lot of attention because, well, that’s not what we usually see from Rosie but, if you watched the game, it was an easily earned walk as White Sox starter RHP Lucas Giolito was struggling with his command early. Eddie does want to walk more or, maybe a better way to say it, he wants to swing at more strikes this season. We know he wants to swing, right? Like Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Signs, “Felt wrong not to swing.”
Mitch Garver then hit a sacrifice fly to the right field line that scored Polanco and advanced both runners up a base. CF Jake Cave hit the next pitch for a 2-run single and the Twins were up 4-0 and it looked like this might be a blowout before the Twins even take the field. Miguel Sano struck out to end the inning on a tough changeup low & inside after 2 fastballs.
So, the White Sox not turning that double play ends up turning into 3 runs for the Twins. Ouch!
Here’s the Chicago White Sox lineup and they have done well rebuilding this team, at least from the hitting side. The pitching…well, we’ll find out, right? They think they can compete for the American League Central division title right now.
SS Tim Anderson
3B Yoan Moncada
1B Jose Abreu
C Yasmani Grandal
DH Edwin Encarnacion
LF Eloy Jimenez
CF Luis Robert
RF Nicky Delmonico
2B Leury Garcia
Jose Berrios took the mound and we’ve come to expect great things from “our Ace” and this was no different. He’s expected great things from himself for a long time. Now, it’s just going out and doing it.
Tim Anderson hit a single to the left side that went off of Josh Donaldson’s glove and into left field. Yoan Moncada followed with a check swing double down the left field line so runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs. Jose Abreu battled through his at-bat to earn an RBI groundout to 2nd then Yasmani Grandal grounded out and Edwin Encarnacion lined out to end the inning. 4-1 Twins.
Luis Arraez grounded out to first to leadoff the 2nd inning and up came Max Kepler again. This at-bat started differently but had the same end result as his first at-bat, a home run to right center field. It took 8 pitches and Max had to foul off 4 pitches before getting another fastball he liked. Giolito’s reaction was a little…”not again.” He then got 2 outs on 3 pitches to end the top of the 2nd. 5-1 Twins.
2 singles led off the bottom of the 2nd then the Twins turned a double play so a runner at 3rd. Then a walk and an RBI-single from Tim Anderson meant 2 on for Yoan Moncada and he absolutely crushed a fastball that was basically the same pitch, same location as the pitch before that he backed off of like he thought it was going to hit him and this game was tied at 5!
We have ourselves a ballgame!
Only 1 hit, an Eloy Jimenez double, but no runs in the 3rd inning.
The top of the 4th went single (Cave), groudout (Sano-Cave out at 2nd), single (Arraez-Sano to 2nd), popout (Kepler), walk (Donaldson-bases loaded), pitching change to RHP Evan Marshall, 2-run single by Polanco that he blooped to center field by just trying to make contact, walk (Cruz), groundout (Rosario.) 7-5 Twins.
Berrios got the Sox out in order in the bottom of the 4th and after the Twins went down on 3 strikeouts in the 5th, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli activated his bullpen by bringing in fireballer RHP Trevor May. He struck out one and walked one in a scoreless inning.
RHP Tyler Clippard made his Twins debut in the bottom of the 6th and he walked the first batter he faced but struck out Luis Robert (1st MLB strikeout for the young outfielder) then got 2 popouts for another good inning for the Twins bullpen.
The Twins led off the top of the 7th with 3 straight singles that scored 1 run. Garver then walked to load the bases but both Jake Cave & Miguel Sano struck out* to bring up Luis Arraez in a big spot & you might not want any other hitter up in a big spot then Luis because you know he’s going to take a great at-bat every time he comes to the plate and probably even better in a spot like this. He came through with a 2-run single to right field to make it 10-5 Twins.
*Sano’s strikeout was on a low pitch that wasn’t a strike. Credit to Grandal for the frame job on that one.
The Twins bullpen took over from there as RHP Tyler Duffer & RHP Cody Stashak pitched the last 3 innings allowing just a single and a double while striking out 5, (Duffey-2 in 1.0, Stashak-3 in 2.0.)
The Twins bullpen pitched 5 innings allowing just those 2 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7!
Tomorrow’s game starts at 1:10pm and Twins RHP Randy Dobnak against White Sox (& former Astro) LHP Dallas Keuchel.
Dobnak is starting so the Twins can move LHP Rich Hill back to his 5th rotation spot according to what we’ve heard. Does that mean Rich Hill is starting on Opening Day on Tuesday at Target Field? Kenta Maeda is listed for tomorrow’s game. Are they skipping Homer Bailey or is Bailey the 5th starter and Odorizzi will then pitch on July 31st when his spot comes up again in the rotation?
