The #MNTwins will try to get back in the win column tonight with RHP Michael Pineda (8-5, 4.20 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) on the mound against @WhiteSox RHP Reynaldo Lopez (7-10, 5.29 ERA, 1.50 WHIP).
The first 2 innings contained 2 hits, both from the White Sox. The 3rd inning had 3 hits from the White Sox and 2 hits from the Twins with each team having a double and a home run among their hits. The White Sox also had a single. Everyone scored so it was 3-2 White Sox. The single came from Yolmer Sanchez followed by an RBI-double from Tim Anderson, with a great diving catch of a Leury Garcia line drive from Jake Cave in between those hits. Then Jose Abreu hit his 28th HR of the season & his 2nd in the series to make it 3-0 Sox.
The Twins responded right away, like they always seem to do, when Mitch Garver hit his 11th double of the season to lead off the bottom of the 3rd inning and then scored when Max Kepler hit his 34th HR of the season to get the Twins within 1 at 3-2.
Then, in the bottom of the 4th, Nelson Cruz continued his BoomStick ways by hitting his 33rd HR of the season just over the left field fence to tie the game at 3!
Target Field then saw it’s new mascot appear again in the bottom of the 5th. The Twins Squirrel appeared for the first time in last night’s game and on the very next pitch, Nelson Cruz singled in Jorge Polanco. Tonight, the squirrel reappeared and Jorge Polanco was at the plate. He was hit by a pitch to keep the inning alive and load the bases for guess who? NELSON CRUZ and he doubled off the right field wall to score 2 and break the 3-3 tie! RALLY SQUIRREL!!! Then, on the very next pitch, Eddie Rosario singled to bring in Polanco and Cruz and in 2 pitches, the score went from 3-3 to 7-3! BOOM!
The White Sox got a run back in the top of the 6th on a Tim Anderson HR (13), a solo shot to left field.
Michael Pineda ended up pitching 7 innings and he allowed just the runs. Maybe not a great start but a decent start.
RHP Tyler Duffey took over in the 8th, got a lineout and a strikeout before Rocco summoned RHP Sergio Romo to face Tim Anderson and Sergio struck him out on 3 consecutive sliders to end the top of the 8th.
Then, the Twins offense had themselves a very offensive 8th inning.:
Double (Cruz), Groundout (Rosario)-1 Out, RBI-Double (Sano), Single (Arraez), Strikeout (Garver)-2 Outs & Stolen Base (Arraez), Intentional Walk (Marwin) to load the bases and get to C.J. Cron, 3-Run Double (Cron), Mound Visit & Pitching Change to former Twins LHP Hector Santiago, RBI-Double (Kepler), 2-R Home Run (Polanco), Double (Cruz-2nd of the inning, 3rd of the night), RBI-Single (Rosario) & Strikeout (Sano) to end the inning. They doubled their run total from 7 to 14.
All-in-All…
The Bottom of the 8th inning:
12 Batters, well 9 batters with 3 of them batting twice
8 Hits
8 RBIs
7 Runs
5 Doubles, 2 from Nelson Cruz
2 Singles
2 Pitchers
1 Home Run, Jorge Polanco (19)
1 Walk, Intentional (Marwin Gonzalez)
1 Stolen Base (Luis Arraez (2))
That was it. RHP Trevor May finished the game with a perfect 9th and the rubber game is tomorrow afternoon at 12:10pm with Twins RHP Jake Odorizzi (13-5, 3.50 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) against White Sox RHP Lucas Giolito (13-6, 3.41 ERA, 1.14 WHIP). The Twins scored 7 runs (4 HRs) on Giolito in 5 innings back on July 25th so it will be interesting to see if they can do it again!
