Minnesota Twins Recap vs Kansas City Royals – May 28th, 2021

The Minnesota Twins have won 6 out of their last 7 games. They got a well-deserved day off yesterday after playing 26 games in 27 days with just 1 day off (May 10th.) They played a double-header in Anaheim against the Angels and had 1 game in Detroit postponed due to weather.

So, the #MNTwins started a 3-game series against AL Central opponent, the Kansas City Royals (or #TogetherRoyal) last night with RHP Randy Dobnak on the mound for his 2nd start of the season. He was 1-3 with a 5.75 Earned Run Average (ERA) & a 1.28 WHIP (Walks+Hits per Inning Pitched) but he won his 1st start (which was also his first start) with 6 innings on 3-hit, shutout ball so, as a starter, he had an ERA of ZERO and a WHIP of 0.38.

The Royals sent LHP Kris Bubic to the mound for his 3rd start of the season. He has no record with an ERA of 1.52 & a WHIP of 1.14. As a starter, those numbers are an ERA of 1.64 & a WHIP of 1.09 in 11 innings.

With a lefty on the mound, the @Twins had a heavily right-handed lineup with the only left-handed hitter being LF Alex Kirilloff but 2B Jorge Polanco is a switch-hitter.

Did the Twins extend their winning streak?

Let’s see!

Oh, AND….Let’s Go Wild in Game 7 in Vegas!!!

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Kansas City Royals Lineup:

Recap

Minnesota Twins RHP Randy Dobnak needed just 43 pitches to get through the 1st 4 innings and he allowed just 2 singles and no walks but he didn’t strike out anyone, either.*

Mitch Garver hit his 8th HR of the season to lead off the bottom of the 4th and put the Twins up 1-0. Dobnak then struck out Kelvin Gutierrez to begin the top of the 5th and then got Jorge Soler to ground out to 3rd but he then walked Hunter Dozier** (he was 0-for his last 32 at-bats with just 2 walks since May 5th). 3 straight hits on a double from Michael A. Taylor & back-to-back singles from Whit Merrifield & Carlos Santana changed a 1-0 lead to a 1-3 deficit.*** He then struck out Andrew Benintendi to end the 5th inning but it took 25 pitches to get through that inning.

Adalberto Mondesi hit a 1-out double but was thrown out trying to steal 3rd by Mitch Garver then Dobnak struck out the next batter to end the 6th. He then gave up 3 straight singles to begin the 7th and he was pulled for RHP Cody Stashak at 89 pitches.**** The Royals greeted Stashak with a 2-run Whit Merrifield double (11) followed by a Carlos Santana sacrifice fly then an Andrew Benintendi walk and two RBI-singles from Salvador Perez & Adalberto Mondesi before getting a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning to change a 2-run deficit to a 7-run deficit with just 3 innings remaining for the Twins to come back.

The Twins immediately had a huge chance to get back into the game by walking the bases loaded with 1-out walks from Jorge Polanco, Rob Refsnyder & Andrelton Simmons. Trevor Larnach then hit a pinch-hit (for Kyle Garlick) RBI-single to score Polanco but Josh Donaldson struck out after coming within a few foul feet of making it an 8-6 game. A wild pitch allowed another run to come in but Nelson Cruz grounded out to 3rd to end the inning so they only got 2 runs out of it.

Minnesota Twins RHP Luke Farrell pitched a perfect 8th with 2 strikeouts. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 8th but they got a leadoff double from Jorge Polanco in the 9th but Refsnyder lined out to center and Simmons struck out. Trevor Larnach walked but Donaldson struck out to end the game.

Game Notes

*Is this a problem? It’s hard to say. Obviously, you want pitchers to get outs and, arguably, to get them as quickly as possible but…the best pitchers have strikeout stuff and making hitters miss is huge because strikeouts rarely have a bad outcome. The ball isn’t in play so the worst that can happen is a hitter still gets to first on a passed ball or a wild pitch. Do we yet know what to expect from Randy Dobnak? It seems he has very good stuff. He started this game going 4 innings and allowed just 2 hits so he can be hard to hit against but…

**He can also seem to go in the complete opposite of that and maybe lose command and walk a batter then give up hits in bunches. Is it hitters figuring him out? Or mistake pitches? The sinker not sinking or the slider not sliding? Are we expecting too much from him? Did he move up too quickly? 

***It should’ve likely been only a 1-run deficit but Garver dropped the ball on the throw home to get Dozier on the Taylor double. It’s a game of inches. Garver had to try to catch the throw on a short hop and the ball fell out of the pocket of his glove to allow Dozier to score.

****What do the Twins do with Stashak? He seems to be all over the place this season. He had 4 walks total from 2019 to 2020 and this season he has 10 walks through 15 games and 15.2 innings. It’s difficult to know what’s going on because these are not normal times for baseball. We’ll see what the Minnesota Twins going forward with him.

Minor League Scores
May 28th, 2021

St. Paul Saints 4 at Iowa Cubs 0

W-Jax (3-1) L-Mills (0-2) H-Anderson, S. (1)
RHP Griffin Jax gave up just 1 hit through 6 very good innings and struck out 10.

Saints Pitching:
RHP Griffin Jax – 6IP 1H 0R/ER 2BB 10K 1 Win
RHP Shaun Anderson – 1IP 1BB 1K 1 Hold
RHP Ian Gibaut – 2IP 1BB 4K

Saints Scoring Plays:
C Ryan Jeffers – RBI-1B in 3rd
3B Damek Tomscha – RBI-Groundout in 4th
RF Mark Contreras RBI-2B (1) in 8th – 2-for-4
RF J.T. Riddle – RBI-1B in 8th – 2-for-4

Notables:
SS Tzu-Wei Lin – 1B, 2 SB (3) 2 R
3 of 4 runs scored with 2-out hits
Team RISP: 3-for-9

Springfield Cardinals 5 vs Wichita Wind Surge 2

L-Schulfer (1-2) W-Roach (1-2) S-Escobar (1)

Pitching:
RHP Austin Schulfer – 4.2IP 6H 3R 1ER 2BB 3K
RHP Hector Lujan – 2.1IP 1H 1R/ER 0BB 2K 1HR
RHP Ryan Mason – 1IP 3H
RHP Jonathan Cheshire – 1IP 2H 1R/ER 1BB 2K  

Surge Scoring Plays:
DH Jose Miranda RBI-Walk w/Bases Loaded in 7th
Palacios – Solo HR (3) in 8th

Notables:
3B Andrew Bechtold – 2-for-4, 2B (3)
Team: 1-for-10 w/RISP (Runners in Scoring Position)

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6 vs Cedar Rapids Kernels 2

L-Gore (2-1) W-Schanuel (1-0)

Pitching:
RHP Matt Canterino – 4IP 3H 10K
RHP Tyler Palm – 3IP 1H 5K
RHP Jordan Gore – 1.2 4H 5R/ER 3BB 4K
RHP Melvi Acosta – 0.1IP 1H 1R 0ER 0BB 1K  

Kernels Scoring Plays:
5 consecutive walks in the 8th; RBI-Walks from 3B Seth Gray & SS Wander Javier

Notables:
Team RISP: 0-for-8

Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 2 at Lakeland Flying Tigers 3

L-Sharpe (0-1) W-Arriera (1-1) S-Tassin (3)

Pitching:
RHP Louie Varland – 2.2IP 2H 1R/ER 5BB 5K
LHP Zarion Sharpe – 2.1IP 1H 2R/ER 2BB 4K
LHP Denny Bentley – 3IP 0H 2BB 8K 

Mighty Mussels Scoring Plays:
DH Yunior Severino RBI-1B in 1st
2B Ruben Santana Sacrifice Fly in 2nd

Notables:
CF Willie Joe Garry, Jr – 2-for-4, 2B (1)
Team RISP: 1-for-11

Minor League Pitcher of the Day
RHP Griffin Jax with the 1-hitter over 6 shutout innings while striking out 10 in a 4-0 Saints Win

Honorable Mention:
RHP Matt Canterino with 10 strikeouts in 4 innings for the Cedar Rapids Kernels 
LHP Denny Bentley with 3 hitless innings and 8 strikeouts for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Minor League Hitter of the Day
Saints RF Mark Contreras going 2-for-4 with a clutch 2-out double (his 1st AAA XBH) in the 8th

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