The Minnesota Twins were looking for some redemption in a 5-game series against the Detroit Tigers that started with one of them 7-inning doubleheaders today. Game 1 had Twins RHP Randy Dobnak on the mound vs Detroit Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd who went 6 innings against them in his last start on August 29th, allowing just 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits (1 HR (Cruz) and 0 walks while striking out 6. Will the Twins turn the tables on him today?
Roster Moves – Rooker Of The Year
The Minnesota Twins placed RF Max Kepler on the 10-day Injured List (IL) and they have selected the contract of OF/1B Brent Rooker & he will make his #MLBDebut in Game 1 of today’s doubleheader vs Detroit.
The Twins also added C Willians aka #LaTortuga “The 🐢” Astudillo as their 29th man for the DH today. RHP Juan Minaya cleared waivers and was assigned to the Twins Alternate Training Site in St. Paul.
LF Eddie Rosario will sir for Game 1 along with CF Byron Buxton who will likely be in the lineup for Game 2 as they ease him back into an everyday role. Ehire Adrianza is at 2B & Marwin Gonzalez is in RF. RHP Randy Dobnak is on the mound against LHP Matthew Boyd as the Twins look for some redemption vs Detroit.
Remember, Game 2 will be considered a Home Game for Detroit as it’s a makeup game from the postponed game last week in Detroit!
Twins Lineup:
SS Jorge Polanco
3B Josh Donaldson
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Miguel Sano
RF Marwin Gonzalez
2B Ehire Adrianza
LF Brent Rooker – MLB Debut
CF Jake Cave
C Ryan Jeffers
Tigers lineup:
CF Victor Reyes
2B Jonathan Schoop
DH Miguel Cabrera
1B Jeimer Candelario
SS Willi Castro
LF Christin Stewart
RF Travis Demeritte
C Austin Romine
3B Isaac Paredes
Twins starter RHP Randy Dobnak allowed back-to-back 1-out singles from Schoop & Cabrera before striking out Candelario swinging on 3 pitches then got Willi Castro to ground out to 3rd.
The Twins got a couple back-to-back hits in the first, too, but theirs were hit a lot further as Jorge Polanco & Josh Donaldson both hit solo HRs to put the Twins up by 2 early. It was Jorge’s 4th & Josh’s 2nd of the season.
Cruz followed with a line-drive single but both Sano & Gonzalez struck out swinging on check swings then Adrianza flew out to right field to end the 1st inning. 2-0 Twins
Stewart singled to lead off the top of the 2nd for Detroit then Demeritte walked but Dobnak got a GIDP (Grounded Into Double Play) ball to get 2 quick outs. Paredes then struck out swinging to end the top of the 2nd.
Twins LF Brent Rooker led off the bottom of the 2nd with his 1st MLB Plate Appearance and on a 1-2 pitch, he was hit in the right foot/ankle. Not that exciting but, hey, he’s reached base every time he’s come to the plate. Cave & Jeffers struck out then Polanco grounded into a force out. Rooker out at 2nd to end the 2nd.
Reyes singled to left to lead off the 3rd inning but Dobnak got another double play ball as the Twins went 5-4-3 this time. The Twins needed to challenge the safe at first call to get it overturned. Cabrera then flew out to RF to end the top of the 3rd. Josh Donaldson was then hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the 3rd but a double-play and a strikeout ended that quickly. End of 3.
Both teams were set down 1-2-3 in the 4th. Detroit went groundout, groundout & popout and the Twins had 2 flyouts to right field then Brent Rooker lined the first pitch he saw right to shortstop Willi Castro and the 102mph exit velocity of that ball knocked him over but he held on to the ball to end the 4th. Still 2-0 Twins
Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli made a defensive substitution by bringing in CF Byron Buxton to replace Rooker but to play center field. Jake Cave moved from CF to LF then Dobnak set the Tigers down 1-2-3 again going groundout to 3rd, swinging strikeout & lineout to right. The Twins got a 1-out single from Jeffers but a double play ended that quickly to end the 5th.
RHP Tyler Duffey came in to pitch the 6th and he got Reyes to fly out to center then struck out both Schoop & Cabrera swinging to end the top of the 6th. The Twins went down 1-2-3 themselves with a Donaldson strikeout, a Nelson Cruz lineout and a Sano strikeout, his 3rd of the day but…Still 2-0 Twins
Rocco still went to LHP Taylor Rogers to try to earn his 8th save of the season as he tries to get things going a little smoother every time he comes in to pitch. He allowed a leadoff single to Jeimer Candelario then threw a Wild Pitch that allowed Candelario to advance to 2nd. He got Castro to ground out to short for the 1st out. Candelario advanced to 3rd. Jorge Bonifacio then pinch-hit for Christin Stewart and grounded out to 3rd and Candelario stayed at 3rd instead of going home on the ground ball. Justin Morneau called that a bad play because Josh Donaldson is going to take the easy out at 1st rather than try to get him out at home.
That brought Travis Demeritte to the plate. He was 0-1 with a walk and began the at-bat taking 2 balls. Rogers came back with strike 1 on a low inside curveball then threw a fastball high & outside but clearly in the zone but it was called a ball making the count 3-1 instead of 2-2.
Taylor Rogers came back with a low fastball in the zone for a full count then had a curveball fouled off before throwing some 95mph HIGH HEAT to strike out Demeritte swinging to end the game and give Randy Dobnak his 6th win of the season, which ties him for the league lead.
He was very good today: 5IP 4H 0R/ER 1BB 4K 2 DP 1 Win
#MNTwins 2, #DetroitRoots 0 | F
W-Dobnak(6-2) L-Boyd(1-5) S-Rogers(8)
H-Duffey(9)
Dobnak: 5IP 4H 0R/ER 1BB 4K 2DP 1 WIN
#MNBP: 2IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 3K 1 Hold 1 Save
Duffey: 1IP 2K #TheStuffOfDuff
Rogers: 1IP 1H 1K
HR:
MN:Polanco(4) Donaldson(2)
Only 4 Twins hits & 5 Tigers hits so…uhh…pitching.
Cruz/Jeffers: H
Game 2 coming up very soon!
It still says TBD for the pitchers for both teams. What’s Tyler Duffey’s middle name? Does it “start” with a B?
It Does Start with a B! It’s Blinn if you didn’t know!
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