Minnesota Twins Recap at White Sox – 9-16-2020

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins activated RHP Jake Odorizzi from the 10-Day Injured List (IL) so he could start tonight’s 3rd game of this 4-game series against the Chicago White Sox. They also activated C Alex Avila. To make room for those moves, they optioned both RHP Randy Dobnak & 2B Travis Blankenhorn back to their Alternate Training Site in St. Paul.

Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
3B Josh Donaldson
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Miguel Sano
CF Byron Buxton
2B Marwin Gonzalez
SS Ehire Adrianza
C Alex Avila

White Sox lineup:
SS Tim Anderson
1B Yasmani Grandal
DH Jose Abreu
LF Eloy Jimenez
3B Yoan Moncada
C James McCann
CF Luis Robert
RF Nomar Mazara
2B Nick Madrigal

Odorizzi pitched well but had an issue with a cut & a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He ended up leaving with 2 outs in the 4th and had allowed just 2 hits and 1 run which he allowed in that 4th inning, a HR (16) to DH Jose Abreu, but the Minnesota Twins had already given him a 3-run lead with HRs from Eddie Rosario (11), a solo shot to RF to lead off the top of the 2nd, & Byron Buxton (10), a 2-run shot just over the reach of White Sox CF Luis Robert over the center field wall in the top of the 4th.

The Twins bullpen pitched 5.1 innings of hitless & scoreless ball while allowing no walks and striking out 7.

RHP Cody Stashak relieved Odo in the 4th & needed just 2 pitches to strike out James McCann after taking over the at-bat due to the injury. He then pitched the next 2 innings before RHP Tyler Duffey took over in the 7th. Duffey went 2 innings and struck out 2.

In the top of the 8th inning, Miguel Sano came to the plate against RHP Matt Foster and he sent his 12th HR of the season to the left center field seats to give the Twins a 5-1 lead and allow them to go to RHP Trevor May in the 9th and he struck out the side to end the game and give Cody Stashak his 1st win of the season.

The Twins will send RHP Kenta Maeda to the mound tomorrow afternoon for the final game of this 4-game series and the season series. A win would bring the Twins back to within 1 game within the Division lead but the White Sox have played 2 less games than the Twins.

The White Sox send RHP Reynaldo Lopez to the mound for his 3rd start against the Twins this season. He’s 0-2 against the Twins with a 19.29 ERA & a 4.714 WHIP because in 2.1 innings (0.2 in his 1st start & 1.2 in his 2nd start), he’s allowed 7 hits 7 runs (5 earned runs & 2 HRs) & 2 walks while striking out 2. In that 1st start, he got the 1st two batters he faced out then went walk, 2B, walk, HR (Grand Slam), 1B, pulled. In the 2nd start, he allowed back-to-back 1Bs then a walk to load the bases but got a strikeout and a GIDP to get out of it. His 2nd inning went similar to his 1st start against the Twins, 1st two batters out then…HR, walk, error, 2B.

Both HRs came off the bat of Twins OF Jake Cave & those are his only 2 HRs of the season in the only at-bats he’s had against Lopez so he’ll likely be in the lineup.

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Minnesota Twins Recap at White Sox – 9-14-2020

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins lost 3-1 last night in a close game where both teams struggled to get the big hit.

Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
3B Josh Donaldson
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
1B LaMonte Wade
CF Byron Buxton
LF Jake Cave
C Willians Astudillo
3B Ehire Adrianza 

White Sox lineup:
SS Tim Anderson
C Yasmani Grandal
1B Jose Abreu
LF Eloy Jimenez
DH Edwin Encarnacion
3B Yoan Moncada
CF Luis Robert
RF Nomar Mazara
2B Nick Madrigal

The #MNTwins left 15 runners on base including leaving the bases loaded 3 times.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Jose Berrios didn’t have his best stuff but he still only allowed just 1 run over 5 innings & the bullpen did pretty good until the 8th when LHP Taylor Rogers walked the first 2 batters forcing the Twins to bring the infield in with Adam Engel pinch-hitting for Nomar Mazara because the bunt was definitely in play. Engel even tried to bunt on the 1st pitch then hit an RBI-single up the middle that sure looked like it would’ve been a double play. Tim Anderson then hit a 1-out double on a pitch left up to score another run which brought Rocco out to bring in RHP Jorge Alcala and he struck out the final 2 batters with 2 runners in scoring position to give the Twins a chance in the top of the 9th.

They got the tying run to the plate when Byron Buxton hit a 2-out line-drive to left field that went off Eloy Jimenez’ glove then got stuck under the padding. Buxton ran all the way home but the call was reviewed and overturned to be a ground-rule double but the Twins still had the same chance to tie the game with a runner on & down by 2 as they did if that play was called a HR and they were only down by 1.

That call wasn’t why the Twins lost the game.

A big controversy developed because a lot of fans were accusing White Sox OF Eloy Jimenez for being lazy by just throwing up his hands but that’s how an outfielder signals to the umps that the ball is “dead” or unplayable. If they try to get it then can’t or it’s difficult, it’s then too late to hold that to a double so Jimenez played it exactly how he should have.

The other thing is the umps miss the call initially and/or they let the play go because they know now they can just look at the replay and correct the call later. If they immediately call it a ground-rule double and then it’s challenged/reviewed, how do they know how far the runner would’ve advanced if it’s determined to not be a ground-rule double? It was annoying at the time but after looking at the play, it was done the right way. Did they mean to do it that way? Well, that’s a different story & one we will likely never know.

Here’s why I believe the right call was made. If you watch the replay, the ball has plenty of pace to bounce off of the wall but it stops under the padding. If you watch even closer once you know where the ball is going to stop, you can see the padding change to show it’s stuck.

It doesn’t matter how hard it is to get the ball out from under the padding, it’s that it stopped or got stuck. Here’s how the rule reads:

“Any fair ball which, either before or after touching the ground, passes through or under a fence, or through or under a scoreboard, or through any opening in the fence or scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery, or vines on the fence, or which sticks in a fence or scoreboard, in which case the batter and the runners shall be entitled to two bases;”

The Twins could’ve won that game. They put themselves in a position to win and had a chance to tie the game in the top of the 9th. Will this game be the difference at the end of the season?

Game Stats & Highlights HERE!

Who knows but they have to put it behind them and focus on tonight’s game at 7:10pm on FOX Sports North: 

Twins RHP Randy Dobnak (6-3, 3.61 ERA, 1.28 WHIP)

vs 

White Sox RHP Dan Dunning (1-0, 2.70 ERA, 1.00 WHIP)

Let’s see how these Twins respond to that loss!

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs Detroit – 9-7-2020

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins sent RHP Michael Pineda to the mound for his 2nd start of the season and he hopes to replicate a great 1st start where he went 6 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. He’d actually like to do better than that but the Twins would probably take that for sure.

The Twins made a couple of roster moves today. RHP Cody Stashak was activated off the 10-Day Injured List (IL) & LHP Devin Smeltzer was optioned down to their Alternate Training Site. It’s actually Devin Smeltzer’s 25th birthday, too. That’s sad but I’m sure he understands it wasn’t planned that way and Stashak was ready to be activated and Devin threw 1.1 innings yesterday giving up 2 runs on 3 hits & 1 walks while striking out 1.

Here’s how they lined up today:

Twins Lineup:
1B LaMonte Wade, Jr
3B Josh Donaldson 
DH Brent Rooker
LF Eddie Rosario
2B Marwin Gonzalez
CF Byron Buxton
RF Jake Cave
SS Ehire Adrianza
C Ryan Jeffers

Tigers Lineup:
CF Victor Reyes
2B Jonathan Schoop
DH Miguel Cabrera
1B Jeimer Candelario
SS Willi Castro
LF Christin Stewart
RF Jorge Bonifacio
C Austin Romine
3B Isaac Paredes

The Tigers sent RHP Michael Fulmer to the mound and both pitchers went 1-2-3 in the 1st. Both teams then got their leadoff hitter on but the next 3 batters were set down. The Tigers got a 4-pitch walk of Candelario but Pineda struck out the side (all swinging) to get out of the 2nd. Fulmer allowed a single to Rosie but Marwin & Buxton flew out and Jake Cave lined out to end the 2nd inning.

Pineda set the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the 3rd as well including his 4th strikeout. Ehire Adrianza led off the bottom of the 3rd by flying out to center field then Minnesota Twins C Ryan Jeffers hit a ball into the juniper wall in center field for his 1st Major League HR to put the Twins up 1-0.

LaMonte Wade then blooped a 2B into short left field. Josh Donaldson walked and Brent Rooker singled to right field to load the bases for Eddie Rosario but the Tigers made a Pitching Change to LHP Daniel Norris. Eddie didn’t care. He hit a ball down the 1st baseline that hit 1st base and allowed all 3 baserunners to score but Eddie got hung up between 2nd & 3rd & was tagged out for the 2nd out. Eddie is then seen going into the dugout & talking to Rocco about it. Did 3rd Base Coach Tony Diaz have him run to 3rd? Did Eddie read the play wrong thinking the throw would go home to try to cut off the 3rd runner? Did he take the out to allow Rooker to score that 3rd run on the play? It’s hard to know. Marwin grounded out to end the 3rd inning. 4-0 Twins

The Tigers responded in the top of the 4th by getting a 2-out double from Candelario followed by an RBI-1B from Willi Castro to get 1 run back. The Twins got a 1-out bunt single from Jake Cave as he laid a bunt down to beat the shift. He then advanced to 2nd on Adrianza’s groundout to 3rd and scored on Jeffers groundball RBI-single through the right side on the infield. Wade grounded out to end the 3rd. 5-1 Twins

Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the 5th & the Tigers also went down 1-2-3 in the 6th. The Twins got a hit from Buxton on a ball that deflected off of the pitcher’s glove and trickled through the left side of the infield so Buxton turned it into a standup double. That’s ridiculous. Cave struck out and Adrianza grounded out to leave Bux at 2nd, though.

Pineda came out for the 7th for the Twins and Candelario doubled to left field again to lead it off and it was followed by a walk to Willi Castro. That brought out Minnesota Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson for a Mound Visit. The next batter flew out to right center for the 1st out. Candelario advanced to 3rd then Bonifacio hit a hard groundball to 3rd that Donaldson snagged and quickly threw to 2nd where Marwin caught it but dropped the ball during the exchange so the run scored from 3rd. Romine then struck out to end the top of the 7th and end Pineda’s quality start.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Twins got a 1-out line-drive single from LaMonte Wade who then stole 2nd base for his 1st Major-League stolen base but he was left stranded.

Just activate Minnesota Twins RHP Cody Stashak took over for Pineda to pitch the 8th. He got a flyout to center then walked a Victor Reyes and a wild pitch to Schoop allowed Reyes to advance to 2nd. Schoop grounded out to 3rd but Wade had to make a scoop of the throw to get him at 1st. Josh Donaldson yelled at him to show his appreciation for that play, which I called a Scoop to get Schoop. Cabrera then struck out swinging to end the top of the 8th.

In the bottom of the 8th, Byron Buxton hit his 6th HR of the season to the 2nd deck in left center field to give the Twins an extra insurance run for LHP Taylor Rogers who pitched the 9th.

Mr. Rogers has been trying to get back to being the dominating pitcher he was for most of last season and a lot of his struggles have come off hits off of weak contact. Well today…he finished the game by striking out the side on 14 pitches, 2 swinging and one looking to end the game. That’s more of what we are used to see from Taylor Rogers and hopefully it will give him the confidence to keep doing that.

#MNTwins 6, #DetroitRoots 2 | F
W-Pineda(1-0) L-Fulmer(0-1) H-Stashak(3)

Pineda: 7IP 3H 2R/ER 2BB 8K 1 WIN
#MNBP: 2IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 4K 1 Hold
Stashak:1IP 1BB 1K
Rogers:1IP 3K!

HR:
MN: Jeffers (1) Buxton (6)

2B:
MN: Wade (2) Rosario (5) Buxton (2); DET: Candelario 2 (8,9)

Jeffers: 2-3-1st MLB HR, RBI-1B
Rosie: 2-4-3-R 2B(5)
Buxton: 2-4-HR(6), 2B(2)
Wade: 2-4-2B(2), R
Cave/Rooker: H, R
Donaldson: BB, R

The Twins will now head to St. Louis for a doubleheader tomorrow with Game 1 starting at 2:15pm on Fox Sports North & MLB Network:

Twins RHP Jose Berrios (3-3, 4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) vs Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (0-1, 14.73 ERA, 2.18 WHIP)

Game 2 should be 30 minutes after Game 1 finishes:

Twins RHP Randy Dobnak (6-2, 2.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) vs RHP Ponce de Leon (0-3, 7.82 ERA, 1.89 WHIP)

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs Tigers – 9-5-2020

Posted on September 5, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins sent RHP Kenta Maeda back to the mound and back to face Detroit for the 2nd consecutive start. He got his first loos of the season, losing 3-2 last week when he went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. He’ll try to improve on that today and he’ll hope his offense will put up more than 2 runs, too.

#MNTwins Roster Moves: Twins recalled C/UTIL Willians Astudillo & LaMonte Wade Jr., placed Alex Avila on the 10-day Injured List (IL), optioned RHP Sean Poppen, and lost INF Ildemaro Vargas to the Cubs on a waiver claim.

Also, the Twins added RHP Jordan Balazovic, the Twins top pitching prospect, RHP Matt Canterino and LHP Charlie Barnes to their player pool. SS Jack Reinheimer and RHP Ryan Garton have been released.

It’s a pretty regular lineup other than Marwin at 2B in place of Arraez & Brent Rooker batting cleanup again!

Twins Lineup:
SS Jorge Polanco
3B Josh Donaldson
DH Nelson Cruz
RF Brent Rooker
1B Miguel Sano
LF Eddie Rosario
CF Byron Buxton
2B Marwin Gonzalez
C Ryan Jeffers

Tigers lineup:
CF Victor Reyes
2B Jonathan Schoop
DH Miguel Cabrera
1B Jeimer Candelario
SS Willi Castro
RF Jorge Bonifacio
LF Christin Stewart
C Austin Romine
3B Isaac Paredes

The first batter of the game, Detroit Tigers CF Victor Reyes, took Twins RHP Kenta Maeda out to right field for a 1-0 Tigers lead. Maeda then set down 18 straight, 8 of them via strikeout. Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal also pitched well as he set down the first 10 batters then allowed a walk in the 4th but got a double play to take care of that and he still hadn’t allowed a hit through 4 but that changed when Brent Rooker led off the bottom of the 5th with a single to right to break up the no-hitter.

Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli decided to pinch-run Jake Cave for Rooker. Miguel Sano then 1B’d to right field and Cave advanced to 3rd base. Eddie Rosario then grounded back to the pitcher for a 1-6-3 double play but it allowed Cave to score from 3rd to tie the game at 1. Buxton then struck out for the 2nd time to end the 5th. 1-1 Tie

In the top of the 7th, Jonathan Schoop walked to lead off the inning then Cabrera singled & Schoop advanced to 3rd on a close play at 3rd. Rosie’s throw was a little off, behind 3rd or he very well may have gunned Schoop down, there. Rocco went to his bullpen and brought in RHP Tyler Clippard and Candelario singled to right field on the first pitch to put the Tigers back in front at 2-1. Willi Castro then singled to left field to load the bases and Bonifacio singled to double the Tigers lead to 3-1. There were still no outs but Clippard got Stewart to ground into a force out (out at home) for the 1st out. Romine then struck out swinging and Paredes lined out to center to end the top of the 7th.  3-1 Tigers

RHP Joe Jimenez replaced Tigers starter Tarik Skubal to pitch the 7th and he got Nelson Cruz & Jake Cave to strikeout to bring up Miguel Sano and Miguel keeps hitting the facing of the upper deck with his Home Runs. This one hit the left field facing hard for his 9th HR of the season to get the Twins back to within 1. He watched this HR for a while.

Sano Doubt About This One!

The Tigers made a pitching change to LHP Gregory Soto to face Rosie & he struck him out swinging to end the 7th. 3-2 Tigers

RHP Jorge Alcala was brought in to pitch the 8th for the Twins & he allowed a leadoff single to Victor Reyes but got Schoop to flyout to right field then ended the inning with a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. He also pitched the 9th and struck out the leadoff hitter before allowing a hit but got a grounder for a forceout to short then struck out Derek Hill for another nice outing. This 25-year-old reliever is going to be a nice piece for the Twins bullpen for a long time. He can hit triple digits with his fastball and has a nice changeup and a nice slider to mix it up, too.

This set up a bottom of the 9th with the Twins needing a run to tie it up since they did nothing with LaMonte Wade’s 2-out single in the bottom of the 8th. They had Josh Donaldson, Nelson Cruz & Jake Cave due up to get it done against Tigers RHP Jose Cisnero. Donaldson walked on 5 pitches and was lifted for pinch-runner Ehire Adrianza then Nelson Cruz singled off the pitcher to put runners on 1st & 2nd with nobody out. Jake Cave attempted to bunt a few times but ended up striking out swinging for the 1st out. That brought up Miguel Sano and he hit a game-tying RBI-single to left field. Eddie Rosario then grounded into a force out to 1st on the first pitch. Out at 2nd. The throw to was high and they may have been able to get a double play if it wasn’t but it’s hard to say. That was my initial thought after the throw was high. That sent Byron Buxton to the plate and he took the 1st 2 pitches but check-swing fouled off the 3rd and swung over the 4th pitch for a 2-2 count. He’s thinking contact to give him & his team a chance here so on the 5th pitch, a low & outside slider, he makes contact to put it into play and it’s a slow grounder to short and….this is Byron Buxton so any Twins fan who knows Buxton knew he had a chance to beat out the throw to first to win the game and That Is Exactly What He Did for a Walk Off Infield Hit, Safe At First…TWINS WIN, 4-3 for their consecutive comeback win and now 5 in a row.

BuxTon of Speed Wins It in Walkoff Fashion!

#MNTwins 4, #DetroitRoots 3 | F
W-Alcala (2-1) L-Cisnero (1-2)

HR:
MN: Sano (9); DET: Reyes (4)

Stats HERE

After the game, Sano told everyone why he watched his HR for a little longer than normal:

Same Teams tomorrow at 1:10pm on Fox Sports North:

Twins LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 3.94 ERA, 1.44 WHIP)

Vs

Tigers RHP Casey Mize (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 1.69 WHIP)

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Minnesota Twins Recap at Detroit but at Target Field – 9-4-2020 Game 2

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Robb

Game 2 of today’s Doubleheader vs Detroit was the makeup game of a postponed game in Detroit last week so Detroit was the home team and it was weird to see the Twins come to the plate first since it was at Target Field.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd on rookie OF Brent Rooker’s #1stMLBHit, a very hard hit line-drive to left field that came off his bat at 112mph and earned him his #1stMLBRBI, too.

Twins reliever RHP Matt Wisler “opened” another game and did it very well again, pitching 2 innings, allowing 0 hits and 1 walk while striking out 3. RHP Sean Poppen took over in the 3rd and he allowed 2 runs on 3 hits in 0.2 of an inning. LHP Caleb Thielbar came in to finish off the 3rd then pitch the 4th & 5th and he allowed 3 hits and 1 walk but no runs while striking out 2. RHP Tyler Clippard pitched a perfect 6th and the Twins were still down 2-1 heading into the top of the 7th and I thought it before TV analyst Justin Morneau said it, this could be a “walkoff” win. Yes, it could but after thinking about it, we didn’t want it to because Detroit was the home team so they were up last.

So…the Twins were down one with just 3 outs remaining & they had Ehire Adrianza (0-3, K), Ryan Jeffers (0-2, K) & Jorge Polanco (3-3, R) due up to face Detroit closer LHP Gregory Soto. Adrianza earned a walk on 6 pitches. Josh Donaldson pinch-hit for Jeffers and he also earned a walk but this one was on 8 pitches and he had to foul off a 98mph & a 97mph fastball to stay alive in the at-bat. Donaldson was pinch-run for by Jake Cave. Detroit took a #MoundVisit to discuss how they wantted to approach Polanco & try to get out of this jam they were in.

On a 2-2 98mph fastball, Polanco singled to center to score Adrianza and tie the game at 2. Jake Cave advanced to 3rd so the 3rd run was on 3rd with no outs but Sano & Cruz struck out swinging. Polanco stole 2nd base (2). Rocco pinch-hit Willians Astudillo in Brent Rooker’s spot and he hit a soft liner to 2nd to end the top of the 7th and leave the game tied at 2 so RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 7th.

Sergio got 2 groundouts & a popout to send the game to extra innings and the Twins would begin the 8th with Willians Astudillo & his turtle speed at 2nd base and Eddie Rosario at the plate to lead it off against new Detroit reliever RHP Jose Cisnero. Rosie flew out to left field on the first pitch. That brought up Marwin Gonzalez and he also swung at the first pitch but it was a single up the middle and the Turtle was being waved home. Oh, boy…this is going to be interesting. Detroit CF Derek Hill let it get past him so Astudillo scores and Marwin advances to 2nd on the error and the Twins lead 3-2. Buxton & Adrianza flew out to left to sent it to the bottom of the 8th and it was going to be up to RHP Trevor May to get it done against Miguel Cabrera, Jeimer Candelario & Willi Castro.

Former Twins Jonathan Schoop started the inning on 2nd base. Trevor May struck out Cabrera swinging, struck out Candelario looking and….

He also struck out Willi Castro swing to strike out the side in the bottom of the 8th to earn his 2nd save of the season for a Doubleheader sweep and the Twins 4th consecutive WIN.

Milwaukee beat Cleveland 7-1 but the White Sox beat the Royals 7-4 so the Twins are still 0.5 game back of 1st place and tied with Cleveland for 2nd.

It will be Same Teams tomorrow at 6:10pm on FOX Sports North:Twins RHP Kenta Maeda (4-1, 2.53 ERA) vs Tigers LHP Tarik Strubel (1-1, 6.75 ERA)

We hope you’ll be watching, #TwinsTakers!!!

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