The #MNTwins will have their work cut out for them tonight as Washington Nationals RHP Stephen Strasburg is one of the hottest starters in the whole league right now.
The Minnesota Twins counter with LHP Martin Perez who had a very good start in his last outing.
So…a bit of a mismatch on the mound but, hey, it’s baseball. Anything can happen.
But…before we get to baseball, we have to pay tribute to the people who sacrificed their lives to help save lives on this date, 18 years ago.
Never Forget any of the people who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. Also, Always Remember the people who put their own lives in danger to help save those around them including the New York Police Department #NYPD, the Fire Department of New York #FDNY, the armed forces personnel from the Air Force, the Army, the Coast Guard, the Marines, the National Guard and the Navy and anyone who selflessly tried to help anyone on that day in whatever way.
Hopefully, baseball can help them escape the pain for awhile.
After watching Jose Berrios, Sergio Romo & Trevor May throw 9 shutout innings, Martin didn’t get 2 outs into the 1st tonight before allowing a run when OF Juan Soto singled in OF Adam Eaton after he hit a 1-out double. Perez got the 2nd out then gave up another RBI-single to Ryan Zimmerman.
In the bottom of the 1st, the Twins were making Strasburg pitch but only got an infield single and a walk to show for it. Maybe it will pay off later in the game.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the 2nd.
In the top of the 3rd, Perez got the 1st 2 outs then walked Soto. Howie Kendrick then doubled on a flyball to right-center field on a ball that probably should have been caught by Eddie Rosario but it went over his head and the next batter, Ryan Zimmerman, homered to left field and it was 5-0 Nationals.
The Twins responded with 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd on Jorge Polanco’s 21st HR of the season, a blast over the right-center field wall with Luis Arraez on base (single.)
From the 4th through the 7th, there were only 3 hits and 2 walks between both teams.
In the top of the 9th, RHP Randy Dobnak gave up a solo HR to Trea Turner to give the Nationals a 4-run lead. The Twins had the bottom of their lineup coming to the plate but with 2 outs, Castro single then Arraez singled but Polanco grounded out to first to end the game.
I started keeping track of the hits, walks, strikeouts & pitches thrown per inning. I have my doubts these will show up well on here, though. I’ll try to fix it if it looks bad. What are the odds it looks better on Facebook than it does on my blog? What’s that about? Ooh…I’ll just turn it into a picture.
Same teams, same time tomorrow night, 6:40pm on @FoxSportsNorth. The Twins will send RHP Kyle Gibson (13-6, 4.58 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) to the mound against another great pitcher in LHP Patrick Corbin (11-7, 3.16 ERA, 1.14 WHIP so it should be another good game. Corbin has 210 strikeouts in 179.2 innings this season. So…would you rather face Max Scherzer or Strasburg &/or Corbin? Geez!
Will the Twins ever send up starters like that? Can Berrios reach that level? I say he can. We’ve seen him pitch like he did last night. He’ll work on getting used to pitching late in the season. At 25-years-old, he’s still young and we know he’ll put in the work. Is last night how he’ll pitch for the rest of the season?
Jake Odorizzi has had an All-Star season. Look what they had in Pineda and they’ve also gotten more out of Gibson. You can even point to tonight’s start, LHP Martin Perez, and see how the Twins are developing pitchers. Now, think about having that development process on their young pitching prospects and how that will change this organization’s pitching. Then, as the Washington Nationals have done, they may have to go get another top of the rotation type pitcher like…say….RHP Gerrit Cole, who will be a free agent after this season. How would that make you feel? Or, do they make a blockbuster trade to acquire the pitching they seek?
What are your thoughts, #TwinsTakers?
