The Minnesota Twins sent RHP Michael Pineda to the mound for his 2nd start of the season and he hopes to replicate a great 1st start where he went 6 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. He’d actually like to do better than that but the Twins would probably take that for sure.
The Twins made a couple of roster moves today. RHP Cody Stashak was activated off the 10-Day Injured List (IL) & LHP Devin Smeltzer was optioned down to their Alternate Training Site. It’s actually Devin Smeltzer’s 25th birthday, too. That’s sad but I’m sure he understands it wasn’t planned that way and Stashak was ready to be activated and Devin threw 1.1 innings yesterday giving up 2 runs on 3 hits & 1 walks while striking out 1.
Here’s how they lined up today:
Twins Lineup:
1B LaMonte Wade, Jr
3B Josh Donaldson
DH Brent Rooker
LF Eddie Rosario
2B Marwin Gonzalez
CF Byron Buxton
RF Jake Cave
SS Ehire Adrianza
C Ryan Jeffers
Tigers Lineup:
CF Victor Reyes
2B Jonathan Schoop
DH Miguel Cabrera
1B Jeimer Candelario
SS Willi Castro
LF Christin Stewart
RF Jorge Bonifacio
C Austin Romine
3B Isaac Paredes
The Tigers sent RHP Michael Fulmer to the mound and both pitchers went 1-2-3 in the 1st. Both teams then got their leadoff hitter on but the next 3 batters were set down. The Tigers got a 4-pitch walk of Candelario but Pineda struck out the side (all swinging) to get out of the 2nd. Fulmer allowed a single to Rosie but Marwin & Buxton flew out and Jake Cave lined out to end the 2nd inning.
Pineda set the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the 3rd as well including his 4th strikeout. Ehire Adrianza led off the bottom of the 3rd by flying out to center field then Minnesota Twins C Ryan Jeffers hit a ball into the juniper wall in center field for his 1st Major League HR to put the Twins up 1-0.
#MNTwins C Ryan Jeffers just hit his #1stMLBHR and it was a blast over the center field wall!
It had an exit velocity of 111mph & went 437 feet on a launch angle of 21º!
Nice job, @Ryan_Jeffers8!!!#MNTwins 1, #DetroitRoots 0 | B3 | 1 Out | Bases Empty pic.twitter.com/M4oUfnBDSe— Robb Dahlen (@TwinsTakes_com) September 7, 2020
LaMonte Wade then blooped a 2B into short left field. Josh Donaldson walked and Brent Rooker singled to right field to load the bases for Eddie Rosario but the Tigers made a Pitching Change to LHP Daniel Norris. Eddie didn’t care. He hit a ball down the 1st baseline that hit 1st base and allowed all 3 baserunners to score but Eddie got hung up between 2nd & 3rd & was tagged out for the 2nd out. Eddie is then seen going into the dugout & talking to Rocco about it. Did 3rd Base Coach Tony Diaz have him run to 3rd? Did Eddie read the play wrong thinking the throw would go home to try to cut off the 3rd runner? Did he take the out to allow Rooker to score that 3rd run on the play? It’s hard to know. Marwin grounded out to end the 3rd inning. 4-0 Twins
The Tigers responded in the top of the 4th by getting a 2-out double from Candelario followed by an RBI-1B from Willi Castro to get 1 run back. The Twins got a 1-out bunt single from Jake Cave as he laid a bunt down to beat the shift. He then advanced to 2nd on Adrianza’s groundout to 3rd and scored on Jeffers groundball RBI-single through the right side on the infield. Wade grounded out to end the 3rd. 5-1 Twins
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the 5th & the Tigers also went down 1-2-3 in the 6th. The Twins got a hit from Buxton on a ball that deflected off of the pitcher’s glove and trickled through the left side of the infield so Buxton turned it into a standup double. That’s ridiculous. Cave struck out and Adrianza grounded out to leave Bux at 2nd, though.
Pineda came out for the 7th for the Twins and Candelario doubled to left field again to lead it off and it was followed by a walk to Willi Castro. That brought out Minnesota Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson for a Mound Visit. The next batter flew out to right center for the 1st out. Candelario advanced to 3rd then Bonifacio hit a hard groundball to 3rd that Donaldson snagged and quickly threw to 2nd where Marwin caught it but dropped the ball during the exchange so the run scored from 3rd. Romine then struck out to end the top of the 7th and end Pineda’s quality start.
In the bottom of the 7th, the Twins got a 1-out line-drive single from LaMonte Wade who then stole 2nd base for his 1st Major-League stolen base but he was left stranded.
Just activate Minnesota Twins RHP Cody Stashak took over for Pineda to pitch the 8th. He got a flyout to center then walked a Victor Reyes and a wild pitch to Schoop allowed Reyes to advance to 2nd. Schoop grounded out to 3rd but Wade had to make a scoop of the throw to get him at 1st. Josh Donaldson yelled at him to show his appreciation for that play, which I called a Scoop to get Schoop. Cabrera then struck out swinging to end the top of the 8th.
In the bottom of the 8th, Byron Buxton hit his 6th HR of the season to the 2nd deck in left center field to give the Twins an extra insurance run for LHP Taylor Rogers who pitched the 9th.
Mr. Rogers has been trying to get back to being the dominating pitcher he was for most of last season and a lot of his struggles have come off hits off of weak contact. Well today…he finished the game by striking out the side on 14 pitches, 2 swinging and one looking to end the game. That’s more of what we are used to see from Taylor Rogers and hopefully it will give him the confidence to keep doing that.
#MNTwins 6, #DetroitRoots 2 | F
W-Pineda(1-0) L-Fulmer(0-1) H-Stashak(3)
Pineda: 7IP 3H 2R/ER 2BB 8K 1 WIN
#MNBP: 2IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 4K 1 Hold
Stashak:1IP 1BB 1K
Rogers:1IP 3K!
HR:
MN: Jeffers (1) Buxton (6)
2B:
MN: Wade (2) Rosario (5) Buxton (2); DET: Candelario 2 (8,9)
Jeffers: 2-3-1st MLB HR, RBI-1B
Rosie: 2-4-3-R 2B(5)
Buxton: 2-4-HR(6), 2B(2)
Wade: 2-4-2B(2), R
Cave/Rooker: H, R
Donaldson: BB, R
The Twins will now head to St. Louis for a doubleheader tomorrow with Game 1 starting at 2:15pm on Fox Sports North & MLB Network:
Twins RHP Jose Berrios (3-3, 4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) vs Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (0-1, 14.73 ERA, 2.18 WHIP)
Game 2 should be 30 minutes after Game 1 finishes:
Twins RHP Randy Dobnak (6-2, 2.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) vs RHP Ponce de Leon (0-3, 7.82 ERA, 1.89 WHIP)
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