The #MNTwins went 8-2 on a 10-game road trip then came home and lost two series 2 games to 1 to the Indians and the Nationals so, heading out on the road could be a good thing, right?
Sure but, they also had to get through a split doubleheader today with none of their starting pitchers scheduled to pitch an inning. They played 2+ innings last night before rain postponed the game and RHP Jake Odirizzi was done until his next start. So…what did you think would happen?
- Twins sweep split doubleheader
- Twins split the doubleheader
- Twins lose both games of the doubleheader
I was hoping for one win but, after watching this team all season, we’ve seen them step up in these situations so, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that they could win both games. They’ve been great on the road and this team responds to adversity.
So…what did happen? Well, first, the Minnesota Twins made a #Twinsaction by DFAing RHP Marcos Diplan and selecting the contract of RHP Jorge Alcala as another arm in the bullpen.
We found out today that LHP Devin Smeltzer would start the 1st game. We know Devin can pitch and we’ve seen the Twins use him in a variety of ways but, mostly, in spots where they need him to pitch multiple innings and, as a starter, you pretty much expect him to be able to go 3-4 innings* and we’ve seen him pitch pretty well in the majority of those innings.
*He’s pitched at least 4 innings in all 8 appearances he’s made for the Twins.
So, today, he pitched just 3 innings but he allowed just 1 hit & 1 walk and no runs in those 3 innings. The hit & walk along with a hit by pitch all happened in the 3rd inning so he needed a Great defensive play from SS Jorge Polanco, who made a 2-out diving catch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 3rd, to keep the Cleveland Indians off the board.
Last night, Jorge Polanco hit his 22nd HR of the season in the 1st inning, a 2-run shot after Max Kepler had singled to lead off the game. That was wiped out when the game was postponed due to the weather. In today’s 1st game, he did the same thing and Max Kepler had also singled to get on before him. The only difference was that it happened in the 3rd inning instead of the 1st inning but it still made the score 2-0.
The Twins brought in RHP Zack Littell and he allowed just 1 hit while striking out 2. He was followed by RHP Tyler Duffey, who went 1.2 innings with 1 hit allowed and 1 strikeout. RHP Sergio Romo was summoned with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th and he got a swinging strikeout to end the 7th then got Lindor to line out to center field but allowed a single before he was replaced by LHP Taylor Rogers with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th. Mr. Rogers was going for his 26th save. He allowed a single but sandwiched that single with called strikeouts of Carlos Santana and Greg Allen then, in the 9th, Mr. Rogers got Franmil Reyes to 2nd then he made an error on a little dribbler down the first baseline that ended up going under his glove. He struck out Roberto Perez and Mike Freeman swinging on the Mighty Slider.
What a pitching performance by the MNBP (Minnesota BullPen) to keep the Indians off the scoreboard. It was needed since Cleveland RHP Mike Clevinger allowed just the 2-run HR to Polanco over 8 innings among the 8 total hits he allowed along with 1 walk while striking out 10!
RHP Zack Littell got the win (5-0, now). Holds went to Duffey (12), Romo (14) and the save went to Rogers, of course (26).
How ‘bout this?
After the game, Cleveland starter RHP Mike Clevinger, in his press conference after he was asked if he was surprised Jorge Polanco was able to hit that HR out on him, said: “I mean, after last year, are you surprised?…” since Polanco was suspended in 2018 for the first half of the season for violating the leagues drug & substance abuse policy for testing positive for Stanozolol. Here’s the link to the video if you want to see it:
https://www.foxsports.com/ohio/video/1603351619811
Clevinger seems to catch himself and quickly goes into other thoughts about the home run. It’ll be interesting to see if anything else comes of this.
The Twins got one. Can they get 2?
