Minnesota Twins Twinsactions start the day once again as they have optioned reliever RHP Cody Stashak to their Alternate Training Site and recalled RHP Shaun Anderson who was acquired when the Minnesota Twins traded OF LaMonte Wade, Jr to the #Giants in February (Wade was put on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with a left oblique strain yesterday.)
Today & tomorrow, we celebrate the life & career of Jackie Robinson! All players will don the #42 jersey to honor him!
The Lineups are in for today’s 12:10pm tilt & there is no Buxton (sore hamstring) or Donaldson (rest? slowly getting him back to a regular?) in the lineup.
Luis Arraez is leading off & in LF, Willians #LaTortuga Astudillo is at 3B & Jake Cave is in CF. RHP Michael Pineda is on the mound against #RedSox RHP Garrett Richards!!!
Let’s Go, Boys! Time to Win!!!
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
Boston Red Sox Lineup:
Minnesota Twins RHP Michael Pineda pitched a helluva game today!!! He threw 7 innings of scoreless 2-hit ball with one walk and six strikeouts and he was in line for the win.
Key Plays
2nd Inning:
Boston Red Sox C Christina Vazquez appeared to have been hit by a pitch but the ball rolled all the way past the pitching mound and MN SS JT Riddle fielded it & threw it to 1st while Vazquez acted like he was in pain from being hit by the pitch. The Twins challenged the call and it was overturned into a 6-3 putout.
Then…in the bottom of the 2nd, with Miguel Sanó at 1st (BB), SS JT Riddle grounded into a force out to 1st. The throw went a little wide left of 2B Christian Arroyo forcing him to stretch to make the catch and as Sanó slid into 2nd, he had the best look at the play so he could see Arroyo’s foot was off the bag so…the Twins challenged this play, too, and… this play was also overturned.
So…stretch to catch turns at force-out into a force off! AND…the Riddler was part of both of those plays! Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That, then, huh? HA!
The safe at 2nd call also allowed the Twins to load the bases and eventually get a 2-run single from Luis Arraez.
6th Inning
Minnesota Twins 1st baseman Miguel Sanó led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a mammoth blast to the 2nd deck in left field today. Maybe fans will get off his back a little, now. It put the Twins up 3-0.
8th Inning
Minnesota Twins RHP Hansel Robles relieved RHP Michael Pineda who pitched 7 shutout innings (7IP 2H 0R/ER 1BB 6K) and he hits the batter on the first pitch then walks the 2nd batter so Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson made a Mound Visit to settle down his reliever. A flyout to left & a strikeout swinging followed but Marwin Gonzalez (Pinch Hit for Kiki Hernandez) walked to load the bases to bring up OF Alex Verdugo so Rocco Baldelli made a Pitching Change to LHP Taylor Rogers to get him out.
In a 10-pitch at-bat, Verdugo ended up hitting a ball down the left field line & with 2 outs and the count full, the runners were off with the pitch so it cleared the bases and tied the game at 3!
They intentionally walked Xander Bogaerts to get to Rafael Devers and he struck looking to end the half-inning but the damage was done as a 3-0 lead vanished.
The Twins got a leadoff double from Kyle Garlick in the bottom of the 8th then Miguel Sanó got his 12th walk of the season and Jake Cave bunted them over with a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Jeffers struck out swinging twice.* JT Riddle was pinch-hit for by Mitch Garver and hit a solid liner (100mph EV) right to 3rd to end the inning.
*Twice? Yes! Amazingly, the home-plate ump thought Ryan Jeffers foul tipped that ball but he completely missed it. Boston manager Alex Cora came out to ask him to confer with his crew and they left the call the same so Cora got thrown out then Jeffers struck out on the very next pitch! DOH!
On to the 9th…
Minnesota Twins RHP Alex Colomé came in to pitch the 9th** & he got the 1st batter to fly out to center field but allowed a double off the left field wall that was played very well by Kyle Garlick to make it a close play at 2nd base but the runner was safe. Colomé then struck out the next 2 batters to send it to the bottom of the 9th.
Luis Arraez lead off the bottom of the 9th and he was already 3-4 with 3 singles including a big 2-run single in the bottom of the 2nd that put the Twins up early. He also made a great catch in left field in the 6th. RHP Adam Ottavino came in to pitch the 9th for Boston and Luis had walked in his only previous appearance against him but, of course, that’s pretty normal for Luis, right?
Luis hit his 4th single of the day. That brought up Jorge Polanco and he was hit on the foot by a pitch. Nelson Cruz then struck out for the 1st out. Max Kepler came to the plate with a goal of just putting the ball in play. Ottavino threw him a first-pitch slider that he took because it was way inside. He then threw Max another slider but this one was a hanger and Max put it in play. He probably should’ve crushed it but he got enough of it for it to drop into short center field and Luis Arraez got a great read on it so he was near 3rd, if not at 3rd already, when the ball hit the ground so he was safe at home! BALLGAME! STREAK SNAPPED!
IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!
Rumor has it the Minnesota Twins are starting LHP Lewis Thorpe in tomorrow’s 1st game in Anaheim against Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.
Game Notes
*Losing seems to get in the heads of everyone so 1 loss or bad play tends to turn into multiple losses and teams finding ways to lose games. Their mentality turns from we’re going to win to what’s going to happen today then heads go down and it’s that “not again” feeling.
It’s crazy that this happens to professional athletes and teams but it does and they just have to try to forget about it and move on. You can’t do anything about the past except learn from it and the best lesson is to play hard and know that you have the ability to have a great day individually and as a team or else you wouldn’t be here. Stay in the moment! See ball, hit ball!
Minnesotans have this thinking of this only happens to our teams and of course that would happen here. You know, the whole, “That’s so Minnesota” saying as if their teams are cursed or can’t win for some reason.
Stop crying and support your team and all of their players whether you like them or not.
**Fans tweet things like I’m done with that player or I’ve seen enough to know he’s not an everyday player. They apparently forget the game of baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s 162 games AND we’re still in a pandemic so players are adjusting to it. Plus, 99% of all baseball fans don’t know nearly as much about the game as the players and staffs of the Major League Baseball Organizations but, man, they sure think they do.
They second-guess moves and calls made and why is so & so still in the lineup or one of my faves, bench him or send him to the minors to bring up someone with even less experience and give them a chance.
We are just 13 games into the season. That’s 3 games from being a 10th of the way through the season. Before today, not one batter had 50 at-bats yet. Who are you giving only 50 at-bats to & telling them if they don’t produce, we’re giving someone else a chance?
Can you imagine the reaction if their teams did what they wanted to do?
Is there such a thing as a negativity filter? “That guy sucks!” – Put him/her in the filter! BYE!!!
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