Hey, Hey! Baseball is Back as the #MNTwins start the 2nd half with 3 big games against a hot Cleveland Indians team that has trimmed the Minnesota Twins American League Central lead to just 5.5 games! Game 1 will have Twins RHP Kyle Gibson pitching against Indians RHP Mike Clevinger. Oh, boy! This is going to be fun!
The Twins got the scoring going in the top of the first when a Nelson Cruz made some LOUD NOISES with his BoomStick when he hit his 17th HR of the season out to center field to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.
Gibby cruised through the first 3 innings, allowing just 2 hits, a stolen base and no walks while striking out 4 but he got into some trouble in the bottom of the 4th. 1B Carlos Santana tied the game at 1 with his 20th HR of the season. Jason Kipnis walked then Gibson got a ground ball to first that very well could’ve been a double play but Ehire Adrianza’s throw to 2nd hit Kipnis in the hand and deflected to allow him to advance to 3rd and Jose Ramirez to reach on the error. Gibson got a groundball for the 1st out then struck out Jake Bauers for the 2nd out and C Roberto Perez came to the plate. On a 2-1 inside fastball, he singled to right field and both Kipnis & Ramirez scored to give the Indians a 3-1 lead. Gibby then hit the next batter with a pitch and Rocco decided he’d seen enough so he went to RHP Trevor May who got the last out of the 4th inning but the Twins were trailing by 2 runs after leading by 1 when the inning began.
The Twins responded right away in the top of the 4th when Luis Arraez singled to lead off the inning and Miguel Sano followed with a double off the left field wall but they didn’t score after Adrianza grounded out and both Byron Buxton & Max Kepler struck out to end the threat!
Trevor May struck out 2 in a perfect 5th and the Twins threatened to score again in the top of the 6th when #AllStarter Jorge Polanco walked to lead off the inning. That made Indians manager Terry Francona go to his bullpen beginning with RHP Adam Cimber and he got Nelson Cruz to ground into a fielder’s choice then he hit Marwin Gonzalez with a pitch so there were runners on 1st and 2nd with Mitch Garver at the plate but he grounded into a double play to end the threat! DOH!
Twins RHP Zack Littell pitched around a leadoff single by inducing a 4-6-3 double play. He then walked Jake Bauers but struck out Roberto Perez to end the 6th inning.
The top of the 7th began with a new pitcher on the mound, Indians RHP Nick Goody, and Luis Arraez hit a line drive to 3rd that Jose Ramirez turned into the 1st out with a great catch. Miguel Sano then reached on an error by the pitcher then Adrianza walked. That brought Byron Buxton to the plate. He flew out to right center field then Francona brought in LHP Oliver Perez to pitch to Max Kepler, who was 0-6 in his career against the Cleveland lefty. Kepler hit a slow groundball towards the 2nd baseman and SS Francisco Lindor cut in front of it and threw out Kepler at 1st but Kepler waved the safe sign as he ran through the bag and he looked safe on the play. The Twins challenged the call and it was overturned which made Kepler safe and Miguel Sano scored on the play so the Twins trailed by just 1 run at 3-2.
Jorge Polanco stepped to the plate and LHP Oliver Perez was left in to face him because they turned Polanco around to hit from the right side of the plate where he’s still a decent hitter but his On-Base Percentage is a lot lower and he was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts in his career against Perez but, just like Max Kepler in front of him, he got off the schneid against Perez and doubled to the center field wall on a ball that must’ve confused Indians CF Oscar Mercado because it went over his head and allowed 2 runs to score to give the Twins a 4-3 lead!
The Twins bullpen would take care of the rest by going the next 3 innings allowing just 1 hit and no walks and striking out 4 with RHP Ryne Harper (1IP, 1 strikeout) and LHP Taylor “Mister” Rogers (2IP, 3 strikeouts, 1 save (13)), who only needed 9 pitches in the 9th, his 2nd inning of work, to earn that save!
In the top of the 8th, Mitch Garver added an insurance run with his 14th HR of the season (https://www.mlb.com/video/mitch-garver-homers-14-on-a-fly-ball-to-center-field?t=most-popular) when he hit a HR off RHP Tyler Clippard. Garv Sauce Daaaaa-livered!!!
With Rocco going to Taylor Rogers for the 6-out save, does that say he doesn’t trust any other Twins reliever to pitch the 8th and/or the 9th or was it just in this situation to begin the 2nd half. He still had RHPs Blake Parker, Tyler Duffey, Matt Magill & Mike Morin and LHP Adalberto Mejia. The only pitcher close to pitching in either the 8th or the 9th right now is still Blake Parker and he’s been very erratic recently so it’s not surprising that he’d rather stick with Rogers there but it does feel like the front office should raise the urgency of getting a late-inning reliever or two as soon as possible rather than wait for the Trade Deadline which is 2 ½ weeks away.
See other highlights here: https://www.mlb.com/video/search/tag/gamepk-565359?displayName=MIN%40CLE%207%2F12%2F2019
Tonight’s Performances:
#MNTwins 5, #RallyTogether 3 | Final
W-Littell (2-0) S-Rogers (13)
Gibson-3.2IP 4H 3R 1ER 1BB 5K 1HR
#MNBP-5.1IP 2H 0R/ER 1BB 7K 1 Win 1 Save
May-1.1IP 2K
Littell-1IP 1H 1BB 1K 1 W
Harper-1IP 1K
Rogers-2IP 1H 3K 1 S
#MrRogers needed just 9 pitches (8 strikes) in 9th (2 K)
HR-Cruz (17) Garver (14)
2B-Sano (10) Polanco (23) #AllStarter
#Keps-H-RBI-R
#JoPo-GW 2-RBI 2B in T7, BB
#BoomStick-HR-BB
#SwissG-BB-HBP
#GarvSauce-HR
#Arise-1B
Sano-2B, R
#EhRey-1B-BB-R
#Bux-1B-SB (13)
Same teams, same time tomorrow (6:10pm) when Twins RHP Jake Odorizzi (10-4, 3.15 ERA) will be activated off the 10-Day Injured List (IL) to start against Indians RHP Trevor Bauer (8-6, 3.81 ERA).
