The Minnesota Twins sent RHP Kenta Maeda to the Ma-ound-a once again tonight. He’s coming off 8 innings of no-hit, scoreless ball against the Brewers in his last start so it should be interesting to see how he does tonight since he did throw 115 pitches last time out. Will he be on a lower limit because of that?
Cleveland sent RHP Aaron Civale to the mound with his 3-2 record, a 2.91 ERA (Earned Run Average) and a 0.97 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched)
In some good news on the injury front from Twins beat reporter, Do Hyoung Park:
“Rocco said that Tyler Clippard showed up today in “about as good of shape, and I think spirits as well, as we could have ever asked.” Clippard told staff he thinks he could pitch “in the very near future.”No IL move yet. Rocco said they’ll evaluate today/tmrw then make a call.”
Here’s how they lined up:
Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Miguel Sano
CF Jake Cave
3B Marwin Gonzalez
2B Luis Arraez
C Alex Avila
Cleveland lineup:
2B Cesar Hernandez
3B Jose Ramirez
SS Francisco Lindor
1B Carlos Santana
DH Franmil Reyes
RF Tyler Naquin
LF Mike Freeman
C Roberto Perez
CF Greg Allen
If you’re playing Cleveland, it seems almost any game can turn into a pitching duel and this one ended 3-2 so it was mostly about pitching. All but 1 run was scored on a home run, too.
Max Kepler hit the first pitch of the game to left field for a single and Jorge Polanco hit the first pitch he saw, too, but his ball landed in the glove of center fielder Greg Allen for the 1st out. Nelson Cruz struck out swinging for the 2nd out then Eddie Rosario hit a blooper to short left field and LF Mike Freeman called for it then dropped it so Max Kepler advanced to 3rd but Rosario was only at first after the play. He ended up stealing 2nd base but Miguel Sano struck out swinging to end the half-inning.
Cleveland 2B Cesar Hernandez led off the bottom of the 1st with his 2nd HR of the season and the Indians led 1-0. Maeda got a couple of groundouts & a strikeout while allowing another hit (1B to Santana) to get out of the 1st. 1-0 Cleveland
The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 2nd. Cleveland got a leadoff single then a strikeout, a caught stealing and a popout ended the 2nd inning. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 3rd, too. Cleveland got a Hernandez 1-out double and a Francisco Lindor 2-out walk wrapped around a groundout and 2 strikeouts from Maeda.
In the top of the 4th, Nelson Cruz lead off the inning with his 11th HR of the season, a solo shot to right-center field as he continues to amaze. Rosario walked afterward but Sano grounded into a fielder’s choice. Jake Cave lined out and Marwin Gonzalez struck out swinging. Cleveland got a 2-out single & a batter reaching on an error by Polanco after Maeda struck out the 1st 2 batters but Maeda got Greg Allen to ground out to end the 4th. 1-1 Tie
Luis Arraez led off the top of the 5th with a single and Jorge Polanco hit a 2-out double(4) that took a perfect relay play to cut down Arraez at home plate to end the top of the 5th. Kenta Maeda then had his 1st 1-2-3 inning in the 5th to finish his night: 5IP 5H 1R/ER 1BB 7K. That’s a pretty impressive start. He threw just 83 pitches which gets him back on that 100-pitch per game pace you almost always expect for starting pitchers.
In the top of the 6th, Rosario hit a 1-out double (4) then Miguel Sano stayed hot by hitting his 6th HR of the season to put the Twins up 3-1.
That’s an extra-base hit in 8 consecutive games for Miguel Sano. That ties him for 3rd for the longest XBH streak in Minnesota Twins history. Stat courtesy of Matthew Taylor on Twitter:
For those curious, the team record is 11 consecutive games with an XBH from Brian Dozier in 2016. This run of games was ridiculous: pic.twitter.com/Ze5PsVLdz5
— Matthew Taylor (@MatthewTaylorMN) August 24, 2020
LHP Caleb Thielbar came in to pitch the 6th for the Twins and he allowed a leadoff single to Carlos Santana then struck out both Franmil Reyes & Tyler Naquin swinging. He allowed another single to pinch-hitter Jordan Luplow but struck out Roberto Perez swinging to end the 6th inning. 3-1 Twins
The Twins had one hit in the last 3 innings, a 1-out Max Kepler single in the 7th which was erased by a double play. Cleveland hit 3 singles of Twins RHP Trevor May in the bottom of the 7th to get within one run but May got Franmil Reyes to strike out swinging on a nasty slider on a full count with runners on 1st & 3rd. 3-2 Twins
RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins and he allowed a leadoff double to Tyler Naquin but got a groundout to short that forced Naquin to stay at 2nd base then got a flyout to left field that also kept Naquin at 2nd base and ended the inning with a strikeout on a low inside slider that Greg Allen swung over and after the strikeout, Romo looked at the Cleveland bench and chirps back at them after they apparently chirped him when he went to backup 3rd after the double or on the flyout to left field. 3-2 Twins
As Minnesota Twins fans saw last season when they acquired Sergio, he is a player who shows his emotions and enthusiasm for the game. I don’t remember that being an issue last season. Is that because he can now hear all the trash-talking because there are no fans in the ballparks or because this season’s limited schedule has teams playing fewer opponents in a shorter amount of time that’s causing him to talk back to them. The same thing happened in the last week or two against the Kansas City Royals.
RHP Taylor Rogers came in to pitch the 9th for the Minnesota Twins and some fans wonder why Rocco keeps going to him. The easy answer is that he trusts him. He’s his closer and he still believes he’s their best pitcher in closing situations. Just because a pitcher struggles doesn’t mean he’s not doing well. There have been a lot of weakly hit singles against Taylor Rogers so far this season. It’s also a lot different being the Man who closes out a game than being a setup man who pitches in the 7th or 8th. It’s a mental toughness that keeps a pitcher going. That’s why when a pitcher blows a save, the thing they want the most is to get right back out there in that same situation.
So…Rogers threw 4 straight fastballs to Cesar Hernandez before he threw that nasty inside slider to get him to strikeout swinging. He then got Jose Ramirez to pop out to 2nd for the 2nd out. Francisco Lindor singled on one of those just-make-contact, end-of-the-bat hits we talked about above but Taylor got Carlos Santana to flyout to right field to end the game for Rogers 7th save of the season.
Rocco on his bullpen usage as he’s needed to use RHPs Jorge Alcala & Sean Poppen & LHP Caleb Thielbar in some big spots in the last handful of games.
#MNTwins 3, #OurTribe2 | F
W-Maeda(4-0) L-Civale(3-3) S-Rogers(7)
H-Thielbar(1) May(6) Romo(8)
Maeda: 5IP 5H 1R/ER 1BB 7K 1HR 1 WIN
#MNBP: 4IP 7H 1R/ER 0BB 7K 1 Save 3 Holds
Thielbar:1IP 2H 3K
May:1IP 3H 1R/ER 2K
Romo/Rogers:1IP 1H 1K
HR:
MN:Cruz(11) Sano(6); CLE:Hernandez(2)
2B:
MN:Rosario(4) Polanco(4); CLE:Hernandez(11) Naquin(3)
Sano: 2-R HR in top of 6
Cruz: HR in top of 4
Rosie: 2B(4), R, BB
Polanco: 2B(4)
Kepler: 2 H
Cave/Arraez: H
Same Teams, Same Time tomorrow:
LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 4.70 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)
vs
RHP Shane Bieber (5-0, 1.11 ERA, 0.76 WHIP)
Game Time: 6:10pm on Fox Sports North
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