Minnesota Twins Recap vs Brewers – 8-20-2020

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins will send RPH Jose Berrios back to the mound and everyone is hoping to see the Berrios we all know & love, the pitcher with a 3 straight seasons with an ERA under 4.00 and getting lower every season of his career while his innings have also gone up in each of those seasons.

Obviously, he’s had his struggles this season but, and we’ve said this before, we know he’s going to put in the work so maybe tonight is the night he gets back on track.

The Brewers will send RHP Brandon Woodruff to the mound. He’s 1-1 with a 3.16 ERA.

The big story of the day was the Twins making a few Twinsactions:

  • CF Byron Buxton placed on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with left shoulder inflammation.
  • C Mitch Garver placed on the 10-Day IL with a low-grade intercostal strain
  • RHP Lewis Thorpe was optioned to the Twins Alternate Training Site
  • OF LaMonte Wade, Jr recalled from the Twins Alternate Training Site
  • RHP Zack Littell recalled from the Twins Alternate Training Site.
  • C Ryan Jeffers contract selected & he’ll make his 1st MLB Start tonight for his MLB Debut and get to call the game with Jose Berrios on the mound.

Here’s how both teams line up:
Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Miguel Sano
CF Jake Cave
3B Ehire Adrianza
2B Ildemaro Vargas
C Ryan Jeffers

Brewers lineup:
CF Avisail Garcia
DH Christian Yelich
2B Keston Hiura
1B Justin Smoak
RF Ryan Braun
3B Eric Sogard
C Manny Pina
LF Brock Holt
SS Orlando Arcia

It looked like a different Jose Berrios from the get-go tonight. He needed just 13 1st-inning pitches to get Avisail Garcia to groundout to short then strike out both Christian Yelich & Keston Hiura swinging.

The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 1st as well, popout from Kepler, groundout from Polanco and a groundout from Cruz, too.

Berrios did the same thing in the 2nd inning. He got a groundout and 2 strikeouts but this time they were of the caught looking variety but it was also on 13 pitches. The Twins also went down 1-2-3 again, though. Rosario & Sano both struck out swinging and Jake Cave grounded out to 3rd.

Berrios began the 3rd by getting Manny Pina looking and the Milwaukee bench reacted like it was a bad call but…

Pitch #6 is on the line. “Hey, you’re on the line, there.”

Berrios then got Brock Holt to ground out to 1st and struck out Arcia swinging to finish the first time through the Brewers lineup with no hits and 6 strikeouts.

New Twins infield Ildemaro Vargas hit a 1-out triple in the bottom of the 3rd and up came C Ryan Jeffers for his 1st MLB At-Bat in a clutch moment and the infield was in trying to keep the game scoreless in the early goings. But…on a 2-2 pitch, he hit a 96mph heater through the hole on the left side to score Vargas from 3rd for his 1st Major-League Hit and his 1st Major-League RBI to put the Twins up 1-0.

1 At-Bat, 1 Hit for C Ryan Jeffers in his MLB Debut. Why not add your 1st Career RBI, too?

Berrios continued his string of great pitching in the 4th and, even though he walked a batter, he still struck out 2, Yelich swinging and Smoak looking. His offense got a 1-out single from Rosario followed by another Miguel Sano double (his 5th in the last 4 games). Sano’s double went to the left center field wall and Brock Holt picked it up and threw it to the cutoff man for a perfect relay that got Eddie Rosario at home by the slimmest of margins. So slim, the Twins challenged the call but it was upheld as an out. Jake Cave then singled but Adrianza popped out to 3rd to end the 4th inning with nothing to show on the scoreboard but, hey….that’s baseball. It took a perfect play to get Rosie at home. Tip your hat to the opponent on that play.

Berrios came out for the 5th with 59 pitches thrown and still hadn’t given up a hit. He got Ryan Braun to line out to right for the 1st out and bring up 3B Eric Sogard, who, if you remember, broke up Kenta Maeda’s no-hitter on Tuesday. Well, he did it again. This time, it was on a grounder up the middle against the shift. Berrios the struck out Pina for the 2nd time and got Holt to fly out to left field to end the 5th.

In the bottom of the 5th, Ryan Jeffers came to the play again but this time there wasn’t anyone on base and 1 out as Vargas lined out to center field for the 1st out. Jeffers worked the count to his favor at 3-1 and got almost the identical 96mph fastball and he lined it past a diving Arcia for his 2nd hit of his career in his 2nd at-bat of his career. This is easy! See Fastball! Hit Fastball! Kepler & Polanco also singled to load the bases but Nelson grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Berrios went out for the 6th and set ‘em down 1-2-3 again but none by strikeout as he got a popout, a groundout & a lineout. In the bottom of the inning, Rosie led off with a single to center and Sano walked. Milwaukee then made a pitching change to RHP Freddy Peralta who looked great the last time he pitched against the Twins on Monday, August 10th. He pitched 4 relief innings allowing just 1 hit & 1 walk while striking out 8. Tonight would be different, though. Jake Cave singled on a ball up the middle to load the bases. Ehire Adrianza struck out swinging for the 1st out. Vargas then hit a sacrifice fly to left field and Rosie scored. 2 outs and Jeffers popped up to 1st for the 1st out of his Major League career. A .667 average isn’t bad, though. Don’t be sad! 2-out-of-3 ain’t bad! – Meatloaf

Rocco went to his bullpen to bring in RHP Tyler Duffey. He got Hiura to line out but Justin Smoak took him out of the park for his 3 HR of the season and the first run scored against Duffey this season. In 9 innings pitched, he had allowed just 4 hits and no walks and had struck out 12 for a .044 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched). He then got Braun & Sogard to ground out to keep the Twins up by 1, at least.

In 2019, one of the things that made the Twins a great team was their resiliency and how they would respond to losing and getting scored on. We haven’t seen as much of that so far this season but in the bottom of the 7th, Max Kepler led off with a single to center field. Jorge Polanco then struck out to bring up Nelson Cruz who speaks softly and carries a big stick and he used that big BoomStick to hit his 9th HR of the season over the right center field wall to double the Twins runs from 2 to 4. Rosie then grounded out & Sano struck out. 4-1 Twins 

RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins. He got pinch-hitter, Omar Narvaez, & Brock Holt to ground out for the 1st two outs then allowed a single to Arcia but got Garcia to fly out to end the top of the 8th.

Brewers RHP Angel Perdomo came in to pitch the 8th. He struck out Cave but walked Adrianza. Vargas reached on an error by 3B Eric Sogard and Ryan Jeffers was hit by a payoff pitch to load the bases. Kepler then walked to score Adrianza and Jorge Polanco hit a double over 1st base to make it 7-1. Cruz was walked but Rosario & Sano struck out to end the 8th. 7-1 Twins

RHP Zack Littell was brought in to finish it off with a 6-run lead. Taylor Rogers was warming up in the bottom of the 8th as it was a save situation so Rocco was ready to go back to his lefty closer. Littell allowed back-to-back singles but then got a 4-6-3 double play to empty the bases and got Ryan Braun to line out to right to end the game!

That’s a nice win by these Minnesota Twins and it’s huge to see Jose Berrios look like Jose Berrios again. We’ll see if he can keep it going in his next start next week but the Twins had to get on a plane to head to Kansas City for a 3-game series to begin a 10-game road trip where they’ll see Cleveland again for 3 games and the Detroit Tigers for the first time this season.

RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-0, 5.14 ERA) will take the mound for his 3rd start of the season and it’s also his 3rd start of the season against the Kansas City Royals. How weird is that after only 26 games?

The Royals counter with LHP Danny Duffy (1-2, 4.44 ERA) on the mound & this is his 3rd start against Minnesota as well.

This 3-game series will be it for the 2020 regular season for these two teams.

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs Brewers – 8-18-2020

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins send RHP Kenta Maeda to the mound tonight and he’s been very good so far this season with a 3-0 record, a 2.66 ERA (Earned Run Average) & a 0.72 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitcher) in 4 starts so far this season. 

The Brewers sent RHP Corbin Burnes (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) to the mound.

Here’s how they line up for tonight’s ballgame:

Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
3B Marwin Gonzalez
2B Luis Arraez
1B Miguel Sano
CF Byron Buxton
C Alex Avila

Brewers lineup:
CF Avisail Garcia
LF Christian Yelich
2B Keston Hiura
1B Justin Smoak
DH Ryan Braun
C Omar Narvaez
RF Ben Gamel
SS Luis Urias
3B Eric Sogard

Both pitchers allowed a walk in the 1st inning but that’s it. Twins starter Kenta Maeda also struck out a batter swinging. There were no hits or walks in the next 3.5 innings. The only batter to reach was Max Kepler who reached on a Wild Pitch strikeout in the bottom of the 3rd.

In the top of the 3rd, Kenta Maeda got the leadoff hitter, SS Luis Urias to ground out for the 1st out. He then struck out 3B Eric Sogard & CF Avisail Garcia swinging to end the inning. Remember this…Sogard is the Brewers 9th hitter in their lineup.

In the top of the 4th, Maeda struck out the side, getting LF Christian Yelich & 2B Keston Hiura swinging and 1B Justin Smoak looking for his 5th consecutive strikeout and his 6th overall on the night.

In the top of the 5th, Maeda got DH Ryan Braun to strike out on a foul tip for his 6th consecutive strikeout to leadoff the inning. The Twins record for most consecutive strikeouts is 7 by LHPs Jim Merritt (1966) and Francisco Liriano (2010). He struck out C Omar Narvaez swinging to tie the Twins record and then got RF Ben Gamel on 3 pitches to end the half-inning and set a new Twins record for most consecutive strikeouts at 8! He was getting them on different pitches, too:

In the bottom of the 5th, back-to-back doubles from Luis Arraez & Miguel Sano scored Arraez. Then Byron Buxton popped up & Alex Avila struck out for the first 2 outs but 2 walks from Max Kepler & Jorge Polanco loaded bases and brought up Nelson Cruz but he struck out swinging to end the 5th. 1-0 Twins

The 6th went 1-2-3 again for Maeda, all of them on groundouts, though, so the record stands at 8 but Kenta Maeda still had not given up a hit in 6 innings. The Twins also went down 1-2-3 in the 6th against new Brewers pitcher Alex Claudio.

In the top of the 7th, Maeda got a groundout, a popout and another strikeout (10th) on 15 pitches to make his total number of pitches for the night 92. This is a big deal since he still had not allowed a hit. In the bottom of the inning, Miguel Sano hit a leadoff double, his 2nd of the night & 5th of the season and was immediately pinch-run for with Adrianza. Buxton popped out to 1st for the 1st out. Alex Avila walked. The Brewers then brought in LHP Brent Suter to face Max Kepler and he got him to pop out to 3rd for the 2nd out so it was up to Jorge Polanco to pick up his teammates with a big hit and he got it done on a RBI-single down 1st baseline to score Adrianza and double the Twins lead. Cruz grounded out to end the 7th. 2-0 Twins

The top of the 8th began with another swinging strikeout for Kenta Maeda (11) but he walked Omar Narvaez and it took 10 pitches. He then struck out Ben Gamel swinging for his 12th strikeout and got to ground into a force out at 2nd to end the half-inning.

In the bottom of the 8th, Eddie Rosario led off the inning with a 4-pitch walk, his 9th of the season. He then stole 2nd base but the Twins needed a replay challenge to overturn the out call. Marwin Gonzalez struck out looking for the 1st out. With Luis Arraez at the plate, a balk was called on LHP Angel Perdomo to advance Rosie to 3rd base. Arraez then walked and Ehire Adrianza hit an RBI-bunt to score Rosario. Byron Buxton then grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. 3-0 Twins

So..Kenta Maeda threw 21 pitches in the 8th inning and that put him at 113 on the night so, of course, this always brings up the question of do you send him out there with a chance to throw a No-Hitter! 113 pitches is the most Kenta Maeda has thrown since coming over to Major League Baseball in January of 2016. He’s 32-years old.

The majority of people say yes without any doubts. The other side would say the point is to win the game and win for the rest of the season and is it really worth it to have a pitcher throwing more than 113 pitches just to get a no-hitter. Well, in the end, the only opinion that matters is that of Manager Rocco Baldelli and Pitching Coach Wes Johnson and they were giving him the chance.

So…here we were, in the top of the 9th…no hits allowed against Brewers 3B Eric Sogard who was 0-2 with a strikeout & a groundout. INF Ildemaro Vargas replaced Luis Arraez at 2nd base. The first pitch was a called strike up & on the outside part of the zone for strike 1. The second pitch was a low changeup and Sogard reached to get his bat on it for a soft line drive that just gets over a shifted Jorge Polanco’s glove to end the no-hitter! No on the No said So…gard! DOH!

Rocco Baldelli quickly came out to get his starting pitcher and he brought in LHP Taylor Rogers to try to close out the game but the Brewers saw a 3-0 deficit with a runner on as a chance for a comeback. Avisail Garcia doubled down the left field line to advance Sogard to 3rd. No Outs, a runner on 2nd and the tying run at the plate in the form of one of the best hitters in the game, Brewers LF & 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich. He walked on 5 pitches to load the bases. Keston Hiura then came to the plate and he hit a single to center field to score Sogard and keep the bases loaded for pinch-hitter Jedd Gyorko. The same Jedd Gyorko that walked-off the Twins last week. He grounds out to short and the Twins try to turn two but Ildemaro throws a little wide of 1B Marwin Gonzalez so not only does Garcia score but Yelich comes in on the throwing error to tie the game. Oh, boy!

Rogers then struck out both Ryan Braun & pinch-hitter Manny Pina to end the 9th but now the Twins had to regroup and try to win this game. They got a 1-out walk from Max Kepler but new Brewers pitcher RHP Devin Williams struck out the side to send this game into extra innings.

So…Twins fans got to see the new Extra-Innings rules for the 1st time. Those rules are, the last batter out in the previous inning will start the inning at 2nd base. This is to try to end the game quicker. I believe this started in the minors to help keep young pitchers from having to throw more pitching/innings than teams would want young pitchers to throw. That is a good thing…in the minors. It’s not necessarily a good thing for the Majors but it’s been implemented this year to help speed up the ending of an extra-inning game for the same reason. That’s also due to this strange season and playing 60 games where teams/players haven’t maybe had the ideal Spring/Summer training that they’re used. Again, I think this is a good reason to do it…this year. Hopefully, this rule isn’t kept for next season and beyond, though.

Ok. Let’s see how this thing works.

LHP Caleb Thielbar replaced Taylor Rogers to pitch the 10th for the Twins and he set down the Brewers 1-2-3 on 2 flyouts and a popout. In the bottom of the 10th, Rosie flew out to LF. Marwin was called out on a ball so he objected and was then ejected. It was a bad call.

Pitch #7….uhh…yeah! Blue it!

Ildemaro Vargas got his 1st AB with the Twins against Brewers fireballer closer LHP Josh Hader and he battled up there, fouling off 5 pitches and getting the count back to full after the at-bat began 0-2. He then struck out on one of those nasty lefty sliders to end the 10th.

In the 11th, young & upcoming reliever RHP Jorge Alcala replaced Thielbar and he got Garcia to pop up on the first pitch then walked Yelich but he got a flyout from Hiura and got Gyorko to ground out to end the top of the 11th. Jorge Polanco had to barehand a soft but high bouncer that went over Alcala to get Gyorko on a close play at 1st to end the inning.

The Twins had Ildemaro Vargas on 2nd to begin the inning. Adrianza led off the inning and hit a bouncer to 1B Gyorko and he charges it and gets  Vargas trying to advance at 3rd. 1 out. Ehire at 1st and Buxton grounds into his 2nd consecutive inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. It does put Buxton and his Speed Tool at 2nd base to begin the next inning, though.

Alcala stayed in to pitch the 12th for the Twins and Ryan Braun led it off with a single to left field that advanced Gyorko, who began the inning at 2nd, to 3rd. Manny Pina popped out to 2nd for the 1st out. Braun steals 2nd (1). Arcia his a line drive to right field that had something like a 90% chance to be a hit but Max Kepler came in a dove in to barely make a run saving catch. Gyorko was off 3rd base so there wasn’t a chance for him to tag up. Jorge Alcala then got Luis Urias, the only hitter to face Kenta Maeda and not strike out, to strike out swinging to end the 12th and Jorge is pumped!!!

In the bottom of the 12th, Byron Buxton started at 2nd base. Avila grounded out to 1st but Buxton advanced to 3rd on the play. Useful AB, Alex! Kepler was then hit by a pitch. 1 out, runners on 1st & 3rd and Jorge Polanco coming to the plate. The Brewers brought Ryan Braun in from right field so they’d have 5 infielders and just 2 outfielders. It took a minute for them to figure out what they were doing, though. It was kind of strange but interesting, too. We’ll call it The Buxton Effect. Speed Kills!

Jorge has shown himself to be a very good contact hitter and that has helped get it seems just countless hits in these and really any situation. He had already done it with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th. He took a strike from RHP David Phelps that actually didn’t look like a strike but maybe that put him in a mindset of getting something anywhere he can get to in a clutch situation. He knows there’s a lot of speed at 3rd in Buxton. The pitch was high & inside but Jorge got a enough of it to send a little bouncer past the pitcher. Orlando Arcia charged it to get a throw home but Buxton slid in safely to end the game and give Jorge Alcala a win that probably should’ve gone to Kenta Maeda. It was Jorge Alcala’s 1st Major League Win, though, so that’s still pretty sweet and it was a heckuva game!

Location of the game-ending pitch. A bit inside but Jorge got it done! Hit! Hit! Jorge!
Brewers defense on the game-ending play. Count ‘Em! Five infielders. Two outfielders! The Buxton Effect! Speed Kills! It didn’t work!

Thanks for reading our ‘Takes! We’d love to see your ‘Takes. That’s why it’s…

Research/Notes:
Maeda pitch count by inning:
1st-15
2nd-7 (22)
3rd-15 (37)
4th-16 (53)
5th-11 (64)
6th-13 (77)
7th-15 (92)
8th-21 (113)
9th-2 (115)

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs Royals – 8-17-2020

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins will start today’s game with relief pitcher RHP Matt Wisler as an opener. Wisler has been pretty good this year for the Twins. They claimed him off waivers from the Seattle Mariners in the offseason because they liked his slider. Well, he’s made it work so far this season. In 6 innings, he’s allowed 6 hits & 2 runs/earned runs (both on HRs) while walking 5 & striking out 10 for a 1.80 ERA & a 1.100 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched).

This is what we said about Bubic in last night’s Game Recap…
“Bubic is a 22-year-old rookie who was a 2018 1st Round (Competitive Balance A) pick (40th Overall) from Stanford who hasn’t pitched above High-A ball in the minors but was very good there. He had a 2.30 ERA, 1.01 WHIP & 110 strikeouts in 101.2 innings in 17 starts in the Carolina League for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. This will be his 4th career Major-League start.”

Twins Lineup:
SS Jorge Polanco
C Mitch Garver
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
2B Marwin Gonzalez
1B Miguel Sano
RF Max Kepler
CF Byron Buxton
3B Ehire Adrianza

Royals lineup:
CF Whit Merrifield
2B Nicky Lopez
C Salvador Perez
DH Jorge Soler
RF Hunter Dozier
1B Ryan McBroom
3B Maikel Franco
LF Alex Gordon
SS Alberto Mondesi

Matt Wisler did his job. He pitched 2 innings and then handed the ball off to LHP Devin Smeltzer. Wisler Wisle’d while he worked, allowing just a walk while also hitting a batter but striking out 3 to lower his ERA to 1.50 and his WHIP to 1.00.

The Twins got a Jorge Polanco single up the middle to lead off the bottom of the 1st but Mitch Garver hit the ball hard but right to the shortstop to empty the bases on a 6-4-3 double play. Rosario then lined out to end the 1st inning. They went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 2nd.

Devin Smeltzer allowed a 2-out single in the top of the 3rd but got Perez to ground out to end the inning. Jorge Polanco hit his 2nd single of the game with 2 outs but Mitch Garver took a 1-2 fastball low & inside to end the 3rd inning.

Smeltzer then struck out the side on swinging strikeouts in the 4th and…

In the bottom of the 4th, Nelson Cruz hit his 7th HR of the season, a solo shot off the facing of the 2nd deck in left field. It is Target Field and Cruz is trying to hit things out there. 2 walks sandwiched a Miguel Sano swinging strikeout and brought Byron Buxton to the plate and he hit a line-drive RBI-single to score Marwin Gonzalez from 2nd. 2-0 Twins

Smeltzer got a groundout to lead off the top of the 5th but walked Gordon then got a visit from his pitching coach, Wes Johnson, and got Mondesi to pop up to short and then got a visit from manager Rocco Baldelli as they must not have wanted him, a lefty, to face Whit Merrifield so they brought in RHP Tyler Clippard and… some more defense from left fielder Eddie Rosario. Merrifield hit a ball off the left field wall but Rosie played it perfectly so it bounced right to him so he could catch and go right into his throw and he made it look like that hit was a single the whole time. It wasn’t. A ball off the left field wall near the left field line would have almost every player in the league heading for 2nd base. That ended the 5th inning. 

Kudos to Matthew Taylor on Twitter!

The bottom of the 5th brought a Garver walk and a Rosario single but it ended with Marwin striking out looking at a pitch that was NOT a strike:

Marwin wasn’t happy & he shouldn’t have been. Umps are bad this season.

Clippard stayed in to pitch the 6th and he gave up a 2-out double to Jorge Soler but got Hunter Dozier to ground out to end the inning.

Miguel Sano led off the bottom of the 6th with a double off the right center field wall and that’s very encouraging for Twins fans because he hit that double off a high outside fastball and he went with it, taking it the other way so…are we in for some more Sano soon in Minnesota? Sano scored on a Max Kepler RBI single. 3-0 Twins

Twins RHP Tyler Duffey came in to pitch the 7th and he entered the inning with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.25 WHIP. He’d given up 2 hits total in his 8 innings pitched before tonight. Roy Smalley jokingly asked if that WHIP was good. Then Duffey gives up back-to-back 1-out hits, a double followed by a single to have runners on 1st & 3rd so he struck out Mondesi swinging then got Merrifield to ground out into the shift to end the inning with no damage done. The WHIP went up to 0.44.

The Royals brought in RHP Jake Newberry and, unfortunately for him, that meant he would probably have to face Nelson Cruz. Well, he got Polanco to ground out and Marwin to fly out but he ended up with a full count to Nelson Cruz and what do you think happens when you have to throw a strike to Nelson Cruz? This Happens!

Home Run #8! Watch the catcher’s reaction and watch where it lands, too

Twins RHP Trevor May pitched a perfect 8th striking out 2, one swinging & one looking, because… Trevor May Strike You Out…and You, Too!

Twins RHP Zack Littell came in to pitch the 9th. He gave up a leadoff HR to Hunter Dozier, got McBroom to fly out to right then allowed a Franco single but got Alex Gordon to line into an inning & game-ending double play!

The Twins will begin a 3-game Border Battle against the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow night at 7:10pm on Fox Sports North.

Here’s the Matchup:

Twins RHP Kenta Maeda (3-0, 2.66 ERA, 0.72 WHIP)

vs 

Brewers RHP Corbin Burnes (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP)

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs the Kansas City Royals – 8-16-2020

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins had their current best pitcher on the mound today and by the current best pitcher, I mean by stats, and that’s RHP Randy Dobnak as he is 3-1 with a 0.90 ERA before he throws a pitch today.

The Royals have rookie RHP Brady Singer on the mound. He’s 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and the 1 win was against the Twins for his 1st MLB Win. Does that mean anything to this Twins team? I don’t think his 1st Win is the problem. It’s any win against this team and they will look to respond in the next game overall and for sure in the next game against any pitcher who beat them at any point in the season. Going back to that game, on August 9th in Kansas City, Brady pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 hits, 2 runs/earned runs, 2 walks and he struck out 4. Only 1 of those hits was for extra-bases, an RBI-double from Max Kepler in the 3rd inning.

The lineup is the regular Twins lineup with Eddie Rosario back in left field but Alex Avila at catcher since Mitch Garver played in last night’s late game.

Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
3B Marwin Gonzalez
2B Luis Arraez
1B Miguel Sano
CF Byron Buxton
C Alex Avila

Royals lineup:
CF Whit Merrifield
2B Nicky Lopez
RF Hunter Dozier
DH Jorge Soler
1B Ryan O’Hearn
3B Maikel Franco
LF Alex Gordon
SS Alberto Mondesi
C Meibrys Viloria

Defense played a big part in this game and it started on the very first pitch, too. Royals CF Whit Merrifield hit a hard grounder down the 3rd baseline but Twins Man of Many Gloves, Marwin Gonzalez made a great play diving to his right to snag it, get up quickly and throw him out for the 1st out. Nicky Lopez struck out looking for the 2nd out. Hunter Dozier then took the 1st pitch he saw over the limestone overhang in right field for his 1st HR of the season. It was pointed out by Roy Smalley, today’s analyst on the Fox Sports North broadcast, that Hunter Dozier is big on hitting the first pitch. Quickly looking it up on Baseball-Reference shows what he did in 2019 when he swung at the 1st pitch:

Kansas City Royals OF Hunter Dozier’s 2019 Stats in each count.

So…in the 2019 season, Hunter Dozier hit .494/.494/.920 (Average/On-Base%/Slugging%) going 43-for-87 with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 10 HRs and 31 RBIs when swinging at the 1st pitch.* That’s pretty impressive and shows teams should probably know that going into every game against the Kansas City Royals and with the success he had doing it last season. He might be looking to do it even more in 2020.
*Most Twins fans probably know this is basically the opposite of what Joe Mauer did. He rarely swung at the first pitch in his career but he still did it and did pretty good when he did.

Jorge Soler struck out swinging to end the top of the 1st. 1-0 Royals

The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the first on a Max Kepler flyout to center, a Jorge Polanco groundout to the pitcher and a Nelson Cruz lineout to first.

In the top of the 2nd, Dobnak once again got the first 2 batters out, an O’Hearn flyout to left & a Maikel Franco groundout to short, but he fell behind 3-0 to LF Alex Gordon and threw a fastball right down the middle and it was in a spot Gordon liked and he hit it in almost the same spot Hunter Dozier hit his home run, over the limestone in right field. Alberto Mondesi then grounded out to 2nd to end the top of the 2nd. 2-0 Royals

The Twins got a couple of 2-out baserunners in the bottom of the 2nd on a Luis Arraez line-drive single to center and a Miguel Sano walk but Byron Buxton grounded out to short to end the threat.

Twins backup catcher Alex Avila was huge in today’s game because of his game-calling, his defense and his plate discipline. He led off the bottom of the 3rd with a 7-pitch at-bat that began with him going down 2-0 on 2 called strikes. He then fouled off the 3rd pitch and watched the next 4 pitches and walked to first. He advanced to 2nd on a Wild Pitch then advanced to 3rd on a balk and scored on a Jorge Polanco groundout to 1st. No hits, 1 run. Cruz singled after the run scored but Rosario grounded out to 1st to end the 3rd inning. 2-1 Royals

Alex Avila came up again in the bottom of the 5th and this time he walked on 4 pitches and I had a good feeling about what Max Kepler was going to do next. 

“I’m calling a dinger here!

Max Kepler, who hit an RBI-double a week ago against Brady Singer, did twice the damage this time as he hit his 6th HR of the season.

It went from 2-1 Royals to 3-2 Twins On One Swing! Maximum Impact!

The next 3 Twins batters went flyout, groundout and groundout to end the 5th inning. 3-2 Twins

Randy Dobnak made an adjustment and/or got his command back after the 2nd inning and he set down the next 11 batters including the final batter in the top of the 2nd but he allowed a 1-out single to Whit Merrifield and then walked Nicky Lopez so Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli brought in RHP Tyler Clippard to finish the 6th inning.

Clippard’s first job was getting Hunter Dozier and it looked like he wasn’t going to do that as Dozier lined a change-up to left field but Eddie Rosario raced in and made a great sliding catch and, since it was a 3-2 count, the runners were sent on the pitch, so Rosario quickly got up and threw to Luis Arraez at 2nd to get the double play. Luis caught the ball and slammed his glove down on the bag instead of just stepping on it. Defense is playing a big part in this game.

Before that play and in the same at-bat against Hunter Dozier, Twins C Alex Avila made a block on a Tyler Clippard slider that kept the runners at 1st & 2nd. If he doesn’t make that block, that double play doesn’t happen and the Royals might tie the game on the flyball to left field.

In the bottom of the 6th, both Marwin Gonzalez & Luis Arraez grounded out but Miguel Sano drew a 7-pitch walk taking a close pitch for ball four. Royals manager Mike Matheny went to his bullpen and brought in RHP Greg Holland but Buxton flew out to deep left to end the 6th inning.

RHP Trevor May took over for the top of the 7th, allowed a leadoff single but then got a swinging strikeout and a ground ball for a 6-4-3 double play & it was a thing of beauty. SS Jorge Polanco had to run to his left to catch the ground ball then on the run toss it to 2B Luis Arraez at 2nd but the throw was a little off & to Arraez’s left so he caught it with his bare hand then turned and threw a bullet to 1st to get Franco at 1st. If Luis doesn’t do that, he doesn’t turn it but he also risks not even getting one out on the play.

Alex Avila once again led off an inning but this time he doubled past a diving Hunter Dozier and then advanced to 3rd on a Max Kepler groundball into the shift and the 2nd baseman was in short right field so Kepler beat out the throw but he was mainly trying to advance Avila to 3rd. The newest Twins, INF Ildemaro Vargas then pinch-ran for Avila at 3rd base. That brought SS Jorge Polanco to the plate and, with a 1-1 count, the Twins called for a safety squeeze and Vargas scores and gets dirty minutes after entering the game! 4-2 Twins!

Twins LHP Taylor Rogers was then brought in to pitch the 8th. He got Alex Gordon to ground out to 3rd on 1 pitch then got Alberto Mondesi to strike out swinging. He allowed a single to pinch-hitter Ryan McBroom but got Whit Merrifield to pop out to short to end the top of the 8th.

The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th on a flyout, a strikeout looking and a popout and with Taylor Rogers already in the game, I was wondering if they were going to try to have Rogers go 2 innings but Rocco brought in RHP Sergio Romo to close it out & he struck out the side getting Nicky Lopez & Hunter Dozier to strike out swinging and then ending the game by painting the low outside corner to get Jorge Soler looking to end the game and earn his 3rd Save of the season.

That’s a nice team win for the Twins. Defense, pitching & offense when they needed it to come back from being down 2-0 early.

They’ll go for the series win tomorrow night at 7:10pm on Fox Sports North:
Twins will go with an opener it appears as RHP Matt Wisler (0-1, 1.80 ERA) is scheduled to start against…

Royals LHP Kris Bubic (0-2, 5.40 ERA)

Bubic is a 22-year-old rookie who was a 2018 1st Round (Competitive Balance A) pick (40th Overall) from Stanford who hasn’t pitched above High-A ball in the minors but was very good there. He had a 2.30 ERA, 1.01 WHIP & 110 strikeouts in 101.2 innings in 17 starts in the Carolina League for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. This will be his 4th career Major-League start.

Interesting note for the Twins…
5 of the last 7 Twins games have ended with a 4-2 score and the last 4 games against the Royals have all ended with a 4-2 score. The Twins are 3-2 in those games and 2-2 in the last 4 against Kansas City.

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs the Kansas City Royals Game 2 – 8-15-2020

Posted on August 15, 2020 by Robb

Minnesota Twins RHP Jose Berrios gets Game 2

The Minnesota Twins will see if their #1 starter can start to right the ship in Game 2 today. He’s struggled so far this season and the Twins, their fans and probably most of all Jose Berrios, expect more from Jose Berrios.

It started badly when Jose Berrios loaded the bases with a single & 2 walks but he struck out the side in the 1st to keep the game scoreless.

Kansas City Royals starter LHP Danny Duffy had some similar struggles in the 1st inning but his team’s defense let him down when leadoff hitter Mitch Garver reached on a throwing error from SS Alberto Mondesi. SS Jorge Polanco singled to right field and a Wild Pitch then advanced Garver to 3rd & Polanco to 2nd. 2B Marwin Gonzalez had a great at-bat and eventually hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Garver from 3rd. 1-0 Twins

The Royals got 3 singles in the top of the 2nd to tie the game at 1 on a Whit Merrifield RBI-Single. Berrios then had a good 3rd with a groundout & 2 swinging strikeouts but Royals pitcher LHP Danny Duffy started pitching very well after that 1st inning. He sat down the next 15 of 17 Twins batters, allowing a monster blast to center field from Nelson Cruz and a walk to Ehire Adrianza before being replaced after the 5th inning, striking out 8.

The Royals bullpen took care of the rest giving up just a hit batsman and a walk in the last 2 innings to earn a split of the doubleheader and winning 4-2 which is exactly what the Twins did in Game 1.

Jose Berrios’ start to the season is worrisome and it makes you wonder what’s wrong. His command isn’t there. Why?

We do know one thing and that is that Jose Berrios has always had a great work ethic so he’s going to figure this out.

Game 3 tomorrow at 1:10pm on Fox Sports North:
Twins RHP Randy Dobnak (3-1, 0.90 ERA)

vs

Royals RHP Brady Singer (1-1, 4.50 ERA)

P.S. – So…we just saw 2 7-inning games. What do you think?—I don’t like it. I get it for this season with the shortened schedule for doubleheaders only but I hope that’s all it is. It’s a minor-league thing. This is Major League Baseball. “Let’s play 9” is the saying not “Let’s play 7!” Who has ever said that?

—We haven’t seen the extra-inning start-the-inning-with-a-runner-on-2nd thing yet. I can’t imagine I’ll like that, either.

—Both things make some sense in the minor-leagues where they don’t want young pitchers putting all those innings on their arms so they want to get the games over quicker.

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