The Minnesota Twins activated RHP Homer Bailey off of the 45-Day Injured List (IL) (Right Biceps Tendinitis) and optioned RHP Sean Poppen to their Alternate Training Site and announced Bailey would start Game 1 vs the Detroit Tigers vs LHP Tarik Skubal.
The Twins entered this game just a game back of 1st place in the American League Central Division and a game up of the New York Yankees for the 4th seed in the playoffs or the last home playoff spot.
Here is how they lined up for the first of 2 games against Detroit.
The Twins have not hit left-handed pitchers very hard this season, especially compared to last season:
According to MLB.com’s stats against left-handed pitchers, the 2020 Minnesota Twins are 21st in Average (AVG), 22nd in On-Base % (OBP) & 27th in both Slugging % (SLG) & On-Base Plus Slugging % (OPS). In 2019 against left-handed pitchers, they led the league in Average, Slugging % & OPS and were 3rd in On-Base %. What is the problem? Hey, if I knew, you’d know and the Twins would know. It’s possible the Twins do know but just haven’t been able to fix it. How much of it is due to when they played against LHPs? Was it on the road or at home? Fangraphs is one place to go to see those splits but I’m not sure it really matters that much. They have actually better on the road than at home.
Tarik Skubal did well in his 1st 2 starts against the Twins so did they have a different outcome last night?
Well, it probably can’t go much better than to have your leadoff hitter hit a HR to began the bottom of the 1st and that’s just what the extremely locked in Byron Buxton did, hitting his 13th HR of the season to put the Twins up 1-0. Josh Donaldson followed with a walk but then Skubal struck out Rosario and got Sano & Garver to fly out to end the 1st inning.
We were introduced to a new Twins look when DH Nelson Cruz was shown sporting a Twins Robe in the dugout. It’s a nice navy blue robe with his Name & Number on the back like a jersey. Apparently, Josh Donaldson bought every player one so they’d have something nice to wear for the playoffs.
It quickly became something to put on a player who just hit a HR as you can see after Buxton’s leadoff dinger.
ROBE TIME!#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/2FZWZIUoRM— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 22, 2020
Twins starter Homer Bailey looked great as he went through the Detroit Tigers lineup without allowing a hit or a walk and he struck out 3. Skubal allowed only an Ehire Adrianza leadoff single in the bottom of the 3rd and struck out 4 between the 2nd & 3rd innings.
Then came the 4th inning and maybe Bailey was getting tired after not starting an actual game for so long but he hit Victor Reyes with a pitch then allowed back-to-back singles, the latter one scoring Reyes from 3rd. That prompted a Mound Visit to which Bailey responded by walking Candelario to load the bases. That brought Rocco out to bring RHP Cody Stashak in to try to limit the damage as best he could and he did the Best He Could as he got Brandon Dixon hit a groundball to the left side and, with the infield in, Ehire Adrianza snagged it & threw home from his knees for the forceout at home. Garver then threw to 3rd to get a forceout at 3rd for a 6-2-5 double play to get both lead runners for a huge play.* Stashak then got former Twin Niko Goodrum to fly out to center field to end the inning with just the 1 run allowed to tie the game at 1. 1-1 Tie
*Today, Rocco said that Josh Donaldson brought up that exact play in the huddle during the pitching change, saying to be aware of the chance to get outs at home and at 3rd.
Before the rare 6-2-5 double play that helped the #MNTwins escape the fourth inning, Rocco said Donaldson brought up that exact play in the huddle during the pitching change.
Said to be aware of the chance to get outs at home and third. Went just as planned. Veteran awareness.— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) September 23, 2020
In the bottom of the 4th, Sano flew out to right field to bring up Mitch Garver. It’s been a long frustrating 2020 season for Mitch but he said when he was activated on September 18th that he was going to forget about the numbers he had so far and focus on the future. Well, he hit his 2nd HR of the season to put the Twins back in front. Kepler followed with a single. Marwin struck out. Jeffers walked and Adrianza was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Byron Buxton & Detroit decided to make a pitching change to RHP Jose Cisnero and he struck out Buxton looking at 97mph heat in the low outside part of the zone to end the 4th. 2-1 Twins
Stashak got a strikeout and a flyout to begin the 5th but allowed a double to Daz Cameron. Victor Reyes then singled to left field and Eddie Rosario made a perfect throw home to gun him down and keep the Twins up by 1.
Donaldson was hit by a pitch to leadoff the bottom of the 5th. Sano hit a 1-out single off the 3rd baseman’s glove. Garver struck out and the Tigers made a pitching change to LHP Daniel Norris to face lefty Max Kepler and he grounded out to 3rd to end the 5th. 2-1 Twins
RHP Trevor May replaced Stashak to pitch the 6th for the Twins and he walked the leadoff hitter, Willi Castro. He then got Cabrera to fly out to center field but walked Candelario. A mound visit preceded a pinch-hit appearance from Harold Castro and May got him to pop out to 3rd but he walked Niko Goodrum to load the bases so Rocco brought in RHP Tyler Duffey to clean up the mess and he probably should’ve got out of it on a comebacker that deflected off of him. He got to the ball and made a quick throw to 1st but Sano was not able to handle the throw so Willi Castro scored to tie the game at 2. Paredes then lined out to left to end the inning. 2-2 Tie
The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 6th and Duffey came out to pitch the 7th for the Twins. He allowed a leadoff double to Daz Cameron and a 1-out RBI-single to Willi Castro that put the Tigers up 3-2. Duffey got Cabrera to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to finish his outing and he wasn’t happy. Could his team pick him up? In the bottom of the 7th, RHP Joe Jimenez replaced Norris and he got Buxton to fly out to center and Donaldson to fly out to left but Rosario singled to bring up Miguel Sano. The last time these two met (Jimenez & Sano), Sano crushed a HR and watched it before his HR trot and said later Jimenez told him “get the f*** out of here” after striking him out last year in Detroit for a save. Sano ended up hitting a towering fly ball that was caught on the warning track to end the 7th. 3-2 Tigers
Miguel Sano stood to admire this one off Joe Jimenez, who he said told him to “get the f*** out of here,” last year after striking him out.
Sano: “He’s not supposed to get mad, you know? You pimped it, so get ready for the pimp, too.” https://t.co/koLNOOKbub— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) September 6, 2020
RHP Tyler Clippard came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins and he set the Tigers down 1-2-3 via lineout, strikeout looking and a flyout. LHP Buck Farmer replaced Joe Jimenez to pitch the 8th for Detroit and he struck out Garver to lead off the inning but Max Kepler tied the game with his 9th HR of the season on a ball that just got over the limestone in right field. Marwin hit a comebacker that Farmer just ducked in time but the shift was waiting for it to make it a groundout to 2nd. Jeffers then grounded out to end the 8th. 3-3 Tie
RHP Sergio Romo took over for the 9th for the Twins and he struck out the leadoff hitter. He allowed a single to Paredes but got Cameron to line out and Reyes to ground out to send it to the bottom of the 9th…and the Twins had to face LHP Gregory Soto. Adrianza led off with a walk. Buxton grounded into a forceout (Adrianza out at 2nd) and Donaldson grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to send this game into Extra Innings.
In the top of the 10th, Victor Reyes started the inning at 2nd base per the new Extra Inning Rules for this season. Twins LHP Taylor Rogers took over on the mound. He got Willi Castro to ground out to 3rd to keep Reyes at 2nd but Cabrera singled to right field to advance Reyes to 3rd. He didn’t get a good read on the ball, thinking Kepler might have a chance to catch it, so he played it half way and only got to 3rd base on the play. Seems like a base-running error but Candelario made it null & void as he singled to left field to bring Reyes in to take a 4-3 lead for the Tigers. Bonifacio pinch-hit and struck out and Goodrum flew out to center to end the top of the 10th.
In the bottom of the 10th, Donaldson was supposed to start the inning at 2nd base but Rocco pinch-ran Jake Cave for him and the Twins had to face RHP Bryan Garcia to try to tie the game up. Eddie Rosario took a close pitch for a strike to start off the at-bat then he swung at a pitch about a foot outside on a just make contact swing and he blooped it to center field to tie the game. Sano struck out for the 1st out and Garver then struck out, too, but Rosario stole 2nd on the strikeout pitch and up came Max Kepler who tied the game in the bottom of the 8th. He fouled off the 1st pitch. The 2nd pitch was a changeup on the low outside part of the zone & Kepler did almost the same thing Rosario did, he blooped a single into left field to win the game.
He, of course, got to wear the #HomerRobe in the postgame interview!
“We’re going to be living comfortable, lounging a lot. Hence this nice robe.”
Max Kepler gets to wear the robe in his postgame interview 😂 pic.twitter.com/KUPj5zRYpE— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) September 23, 2020
The Twins will send RHP Kenta Maeda to the mound tonight and he’ll face Detroit Tigers rookie RHP Casey Mize at 6:40pm on Fox Sports North.
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