The Minnesota Twins had their ace RHP Kenta Maeda heading to the mound today to try to win their 2nd straight series in today’s rubber game vs the Detroit Tigers & they had Byron Buxton back in the starting lineup. Max Kepler & Luis Arraez got the day off so OF Kyle Garlick got his 1st Twins start, playing right field and hitting 2nd in the lineup in front of Nelson Cruz. Willians Astudillo got the start at 3rd base.

The Minnesota Twins also announced they had placed OF Brent Rooker on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with a cervical strain which, if you didn’t know like I didn’t know, is just a medical term for neck pain.

They selected the contract of LHP Brandon Waddell from the Taxi Squad to replace Rooker’s spot on the roster. To make room for Waddell on the 40-Man Roster, they transferred RHP Edwar Colina (right elbow inflammation) to the 60-Day Injured List.

Waddell had a great spring training and made the Twins decision a little more difficult for the final spot in the bullpen before eventually going with fellow lefty, Caleb Thielbar.

Maeda had a decent start but seemed to lose command again in the 6th as he did in his 1st start. Hopefully, he just needs some time to round out his game and some home-cooking will do that. He allowed more than one hit per inning again. He didn’t do that once in 2020. NOT ONCE! Maybe that’s just how great of a season he had but I’d think he’d expect the same kind of stuff this season.

In the top of the 2nd, that Akil Baddoo guy once again made a big play by playing an Andrelton Simmons ball perfectly off the wall and then throwing him out at 2nd. Then in the bottom of the 2nd, he came up with 1 on & 1 out and hit his #1stMLBTriple to score a run and give his team a 1-0 lead.*

The Twins struggled to get anything going against #Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd until the 5th. They had just 2 hits through 4 innings then Byron Buxton led off the 5th with a hard line-drive off the right field wall that was played perfectly by Tigers RF Robbie Grossman but Buxton still slid in safe easily #SpeedTool Miguel Sano then hit a dribbler up the first baseline that allowed Buxton to advance to 3rd and then Willians #LaTortuga Astudillo brought him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1.

In the bottom of the 5th, Maeda gave up a solo HR to Wilson Ramos and the Tigers were up by 1 once again.

Then, with 2 outs in the top of the 6th, Kyle Garlick hit his 2nd single of the day. Nelson Cruz hit a ball hard that went off SS Willi Castro’s glove but 2B Jonathan Schoop bare-handed it and quickly threw to 1st for a close call that was an out that would’ve ended the inning BUT…the Twins challenged the call and it was overturned** to put runners on 1st & 2nd and Jorge Polanco to the plate. He hit 2 balls hard yesterday from the right side and he then laced his 1st double of the season to left center field that scored Garlick from 2nd AND Nelson Cruz all the way from 1st to put the Twins up 3-2.

In the bottom of the 6th, Willi Castro led it off with a single and Miguel Cabrera followed with a line-drive double(1) to left field that Jake Cave dove for but missed but he got up and got to it quickly knowing there was a runner on first. He hit the cutoff man in SS Andrelton Simmons and Simmons made a perfect throw to cut down Castro at home but that was just 1 out.
Jeimer Candelario walked & Nomar Mazara singled to right field on a hard line drive that didn’t give Cabrera a chance to score but the bases were now loaded with just one out. Jonathan Schoop came to the plate and he hit a hard fly ball to right field. Garlick caught it and Cabrera was sent home but Garlick’s throw beat him easily to end the inning.***

There were only two more baserunners for the rest of the game, one hit by pitch and one single.

Boyd hit Simmons with a pitch but finished his day with 7 very good innings. RHP Hansel Robles pitched a perfect 7th for MN with 1 strikeout. RHP Jose Cisnero took over for Detroit in the 8th and set down all 6 twins he faced in the 8th & 9th innings.

RHP Alex Colome came in the game in the 8th for the Twins. He struck out Grossman then allowed a single to Willi Castro but he got Miguel Cabrera to ground into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Colome came out to go for the 2-inning save and he got ahead of Jeimer Candelario 0-2 to begin the 9th but the next pitch was fouled off and the next 3 were balls to make the count full but got him to strike out on nasty low & inside cutter for the first out. He got Nomar Mazara to fly out to center & up came Jonathan Schoop. He got ahead by taking a 95mph fastball for a ball then fouled off an 88mph cutter that was middle in to even the count at 1-1. A 90mph cutter just missed for ball 2 then swung through a low outside 94mph heater and…

he GOT HEEM with an inside 90mph cutter to end the game and earn his 2nd save of the season.

It’s cool to see how well Colome changes speeds with his cutter and by pairing it with his fastball and changeup.

MNTwins 3, #DetroitRoots 2 | F

W-Maeda(1-0) L-Boyd(1-1) S-Colomé(2) H-Robles(2)

Maeda-6IP 7H 2R/ER 1BB 6K 1HR 1W
Robles-1IP 1KColomé-2IP 1H 3K 1 Save

HR:
MN-None
DET-Ramos(2)

2B:
MN-Buxton(2) Polanco(1)
DET-Cabrera(1)

Buxton-2B,R
Polanco-GW 2-R 2B in 6th
Garlick-2H,R
Cruz-H,R
Simmons-H,#Defense
Cave-H,#Defense-Outfield Assist

Garlick also had an outfield assist as the defense in the 6th held the 1-run lead.

Notes:

*It’s funny how a former prospect starting his career well makes some fans think/wonder why the Minnesota Twins gave up on him. We’re, of course, talking about Detroit Tigers & former Minnesota Twins OF prospect Akil Baddoo, who’s started his career insanely well with a Home Run in the first pitch he saw as a Major Leaguer then hit a Grand Slam late in the Twins 15-6 win on Monday and hit a Walk-Off Single to win the game last night!

He continued making plays today with the first triple of his career to put his team in front in the bottom of the 2nd. He then added an outfield assist to cut down Andrelton Simmons on what looked like a clear double to begin the 3rd inning.

So…let’s get to why the Twins “let him go.” I put that in quotes because Major League Baseball rules only allow teams to control players for a certain length of time before they have to make them available to every other team in the league through the Rule 5 Draft. It started as a way “to give Minor League players more opportunities to crack big league rosters and prevent teams from stashing talented players in the Minor Leagues.”

Players signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to their club’s 40-Man Roster within five seasons or they become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players who signed at age 19 or older need to be protected within four seasons.

So…Akil Baddoo was a minor-leaguer who had yet to play above High-A ball and the Twins only had 3 spots available so Baddoo was left available. I’m sure they thought but also hoped nobody would select any of their players but that’s just how it goes and for the Twins, that sucks because they need to be able to keep as many prospects as possible. Who would think a player would be doing this after not playing any baseball games in almost 2 years (May 11th, 2019) and it’s not like he was lighting it up at High-A ball, either:

The key is how long will this last for Akil Baddoo? We assume he’ll come back to earth at some point and/or the league will adjust to him so….we’ll see how he handles that and if, maybe, the Twins get a chance to either get him back or get something for him if Detroit wants to keep him.

**How HUGE was the Challenge that overturned the bad call by the ump in the 6th? It kept the inning going and allowed Jorge Polanco to put his stamp on the game with the game-winning hit! It’s awesome to see the 40-year-old running hard to beat the throw to first then to score the eventual game-winning run! He had some fun with it in the postgame, too. He said he told Buxton earlier that he’s faster than him and he was asked if him being safe & Miguel Cabrera being out at home “proved that you’re faster than Miguel Cabrera?” by the Twins writer from The Athletic, Aaron Gleeman:

Asking this question and getting this response from Nelson Cruz is now the highlight of my Zoom interviewing career. pic.twitter.com/gh9QuD3eWo

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 7, 2021

He also quoted a tweet from the Detroit Tigers about being tormented by him for the last decade:

😔🤣 https://t.co/3FE0pvHw6t

— Nelson Cruz (@ncboomstick23) April 7, 2021

Last but not least, he replied to the Twins & Byron Buxton on a Twins tweet about the win today talking about his speed being on display today:

***The defense played a huge part in the win today. Simmons throw to get Willi Castro at home in the bottom of the 6th are the kinds of plays they paid $10.5M to sign him to be their shortstop this season. It’s why he’s considered possibly the best defensive shortstop in the league!

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The #MNTwins will start a 7-game homestand starting with the #HomeOpener tomorrow at 3:10pm against the Seattle Mariners with 10,000 #TwInsane fans in the stands at #TargetField!

Minnesota Twins RHP José Berríos (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP) #LaMakina
vs
Seattle RHP Marco Gonzalez (0-0, 7.50 ERA, 1.83 WHIP)

📺: Bally Sports North