The #MNTwins, after winning Game 1 on Monday night by a score of 5-3 in comeback fashion, sent LHP Martin Perez to the mound against White Sox LHP Ross Detwiler looking to win the series.
Perez seems to have the stuff to be a decent pitcher but he’s been inconsistent since his last start in May. He had one good start in June, 2 good starts in July & 3 straight good starts in August. He started September with a good start but has been hit hard in the 11 of his last 17 starts so you never seem to know what you’re going to get. He was successful early largely because of a new cut fastball he was using but the league adjusted to it and he hasn’t been able to adjust back, yet, or, at least, on a consistent basis.
It’s hard to believe the Twins would bring him back for next season at this point and he got hit hard again tonight, allowing 10 hits in 4.2 innings but he did leave with a lead in the top of the 5th since he allowed only 3 runs.
The Twins offense activated in the bottom of the 3rd when CF Ryan LaMarre led off the inning with his 1st HR of the season. Then Garver walked. Nelson Cruz was intentionally walked and Eddie Rosario doubled (22) to score Mitch Garver and advance Cruz to 3rd. That brought up Miguel Sano and he absolutely crushed a ball to the upper deck in left field to put the Twins up 5-0. The ball traveled 482 feet for the 2nd longest HR is Target Field history.
It was also Miguel Sano’s 30th HR of the Season AND it made him the 5th Twins player to hit 30 or more HRs on the season and it also made the Twins the first team in MLB History to have 5 players hit 30 or more HRs in one season! Just another Bomba Record for the 2019 Minnesota Twins. #SanoBigDeal
The White Sox started to mount a comeback in the top of the 4th when Eloy Jimenez doubled (16) to lead off the inning. James McCann singled him in with 1 out to get them on the board.
Then, in the top of the 5th, the White Sox got a couple of singles to lead off the inning. A Wild Pitch allowed both runners to advance a base and a Tim Anderson sacrifice fly scored their 2nd run & Jose Abreu singled to bring in another run so 5-0 had changed to 5-3 pretty quickly. Rocci went out to get Martin and replaced him with Trevor May to get out of the 5th.
May came back out to pitch the 6th and after getting the first out on a flyout to left field, he gave up back-to-back home runs and the game was tied at 5. WOW!
Someone tweeted saying it was embarrassing that the Twins allowed the White Sox to come back after leading 5-0 but, and I’ve said this before, just because the White Sox have lost a lot of games and are 28 games out of 1st in the American League Central, doesn’t mean they don’t have talent and won’t compete.
Division games are tough because those teams always want to beat you. They don’t care about the records for the whole season. They want to beat the Twins and try to spoil your season and, since they’ve played the Twins a lot, they know how to do that. None of these games are easy and There Are No Easy Wins!
The Twins offense, after Sano’s blast, had only 4 baserunners (2B, 1B & 2 walks) among the next 13 batters through the 6th inning.
RHP Tyler Duffey pitched the 7th and struck out the side with two swinging strikeouts and one looking to end the inning. Duffey has turned into a strikeout machine & a great relief pitcher with the help of the Twins and pitching coach Wes Johnson. He now has 73 strikeouts & only 14 walks in 52.2 innings on the season with a 2.39 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He hasn’t given up a run since July 23rd, a 22-game & 19.1-inning scoreless streak. In those games, he’s 3-0 with 1 blown save & 9 holds and he’s allowed just 10 hits to 74 batters for a .169/.216/.179 triple-slash (Average/On-Base %/Slugging %) with 5 walks and 33 strikeouts!
Sorry, but that’s Awesome!
In the top of the 8th, RHP Sergio Romo battled through right leg pain to also strike out the side but he also allowed a single.
Nothing in the 9th forced extra innings and RHP Zack Littell was summoned to pitch the 10th. He allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt advanced both runners up a base so Rocco had him intentionally walk Zack Collins to load the bases with 1 out to get to Adam Engel but he was pinch-hit for by Ryan Goins who ended up popping up to 3B Miguel Sano in foul territory for the 2nd out. He then got Leury Garcia to fly out to left field to end the inning.
The Twins went popout, strikeout & strikeout in the bottom of the 10th so Zack Littell came back out to pitch the 11th.
Tim Anderson led off the 11th with his 17th HR of the season. 6-5 Sox. Littell struck out Abreu, allowed a single to Jimenez then struck out Moncada and got McCann to ground out to end the inning but the Twins had some work to do to keep the game going and/or win it.
White Sox closer RHP Alex Colome entered the game looking for 18th save. Jonathan Schoop led off the inning with a single and was pinch-run for with OF LaMonte Wade. C.J. Cron then pinch-hit for Ian Miller and grounded out to 3rd but Wade advanced to 2nd on the play. An alert & speedy Wade advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and then scored on a Mitch Garver sacrifice fly to tie the game back up at 6! Polanco struck out to end the inning but the Twins now had new life.
Wade stayed in the game as the center field and Ronald Torreyes came in to play 2B, replacing C.J. Cron, and RHP Ryne Harper came in to pitch the 12th. He got a groundout for the 1st out but then walked Zack Collins and allowed a 2-run HR to Ryan Cordell (7) to put the Sox up 8-6 so the Twins were put in another tough spot with 1 inning to score 2 runs to keep the game alive in the bottom of the 12th.
Nelson Cruz began the inning with a groundball single to left and Eddie Eddie Eddie Rosario doubled (23) off the right-center field wall to advance Cruz to 3rd. Sano struck out to bring up Marwin Gonzalez, who was 3-for-9 since returning to the lineup on Monday night so he & his bat had missed their time away. Well, he added another hit with a 2-run single to right field that tied the game again! WOW! This Game!
Luis Arraez then singled to advance Marwin to 2nd and bring up LaMonte Wade, who just entered the game in the bottom of the 11th and was now up with the game on the line and, in his last 2 games, he had hit his 1st Career HR & his 1st Career Double so…why not add a WalkOff hit, huh?
He worked the count to 2-1 and got a pitch in the zone and he laced it to center field and I thought for sure it was the game-winning hit but he hit it so hard, 3B coach Tony Diaz had to hold Marwin at 3rd so instead of the game-winning hit we had the bases loaded and Ronald Torreyes at the plate for his 5th plate appearance of the season. WOW! You can’t make it up!
Torreyes had the count at 1-1 and the pitch came inside. He was in his motion to swing but held up as he saw the pitch coming inside and the pitch hit him in his right (back) arm for a Walk-Off Hit By Pitch!
How ‘Bout That? The Number to Clinch the Division Title and a Berth to the Postseason is now 7! 7 Wins or Cleveland Losses and it’s Playoffs, Baby!!!
The Twins will go for the Sweep tonight with RHP Jake Odorizzi (14-6, 3.60 ERA, 1.23 WHIP) on the mound against RHP Ivan Nova (10-12, 4.86 ERA, 1.46 WHIP) at 6:40pm on Fox Sports North.
