It was the Minnesota Twins Home Opener yesterday afternoon! There were 10,000 fans in attendance (9,600+ according to Twins Prez Dave St. Peter) and the Twins did not disappoint as they clobbered the Seattle Mariners 10-2!
The Mariners actually scored 1st. Twins starter, RHP José Berríos, struck out 2 in the 1st inning, allowed a walk in the 2nd inning, which was followed by another strikeout, then he allowed a leadoff hit in the 3rd inning. That hit was followed by another strikeout then a popup to 3rd then another walk so…José was checking off 1sts for the season but they were all negative 1sts and those kept coming as the next batter (Ty France) hit an RBI-single to score the 1st run against José Berríos. The next batter also walked, the 2nd walk of the inning so Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson came out to talk to his young pitcher and the next batter lined out to right field to end the inning but the Twins were now down 1-0.
It’s always interesting to see how a team responds to getting scored on to see if they have the ability and compete-level to get right back in the game and the Twins did just that with back-to-back doubles from Jorge Polanco (1) & Kyle Garlick (1) to tie the game at 1 & it took just 4 pitches to get it done. Nelson Cruz walked and Byron Buxton grounded to short for a force out at 2nd but he beat the throw to 1st to keep 2 runners on. Garlick advanced to 3rd. Mitch Garver was up next.* He had the count at 2-2 and had only swung at the changeup for a swinging strike on the 3rd pitch then took the next pitch, a low changeup, for a ball. He fouled off an inside sinker then got another changeup and he crushed it over the center field wall into the juniper wall and Just Like That, the Twins were up 4-1.
Berríos got a lead and struck out the side in the next inning on 17 pitches (2 swinging, 1 looking). A 15-minute Rain Delay split the top & bottom of the 4th inning then the Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 4th as well, 2 of those via strikeout.
In the 5th, Sam Haggerty tried to lay down a bunt on Berríos and José was having none of it as he pounced on it and threw him out then struck out the next batter for 2 quick outs but back-to-back singles from Mitch Haniger & Ty France brought Kyle Seager to the plate as the game-tying run. José had him down 0-2 but he & his shortstop were also keeping an eye on Mitch Haniger at 2nd base as he was taking a big lead and, he’d already picked off a runner trying to steal in the 2nd inning. Seager had fouled off 2 straight pitches to keep the at-bat alive. They tried a pickoff throw before the 1st pitch of the at-bat and that was somewhat close. They tried it again after the 4th pitch and it was even closer. It was called safe on the field but it was close enough for the Twins to challenge the call…and they Overturned the Call to end the 5th inning.**
The Twins then scored 3 more runs in the bottom of the 5th on Byron Buxton’s 4th HR of the season which was followed by a double off the right center field wall from Mitch Garver. Max Kepler then smoked a ball 108mph off his bat and heading toward right field but Seattle 1st baseman José Marmolejos (Mar-Ma-Lay-Hos) jumped and snagged it for the 1st out. Miguel Sano brought in Garver with a single to left field and that ended the day for Mariners starter LHP Marco Gonzales as RHP Drew Steckenrider took over and he was greeted by an Andrelton Simmons double (2) to left field. Sano advanced to 3rd and he was brought in on a Luis Arraez sacrifice fly to left field to make it 7-1.
Berríos came out for the 6th and got Seager to fly out to center field but then left a curveball up and didn’t see that ball again after José Marmolejos put it in the 2nd deck of right center field to get Seattle a run back. He struck out the next batter and that’s when Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli decided 99 pitches was enough for his pitcher as Seager’s flyout was to deep center field so pulled him for LHP Caleb Thielbar.
Caleb (or Kaleb) struck out the next batter to end the top of the 6th. He also pitched the 7th inning for the Twins and he allowed a leadoff single then an error allowed the next batter to reach but he induced a double-play ball to get 2 quick outs then got a called strikeout to get through the 7th with no damage done.
The Twins had 3 singles in the bottom of the 6th including Byron Buxton’s 1st single of the season*** and they got a check-swing RBI-infield hit that brought in the speedy Nelson Cruz to make it 8-2.
In the bottom of the 7th, Andrelton Simmons hit a leadoff double (3) then Luis Arraez joined the Power Producers by hitting his 1st HR of the season, a shot over the right center field wall. That’s his 1st HR since 2019 as he didn’t hit one in the shortened 2020 season.
RHP Jorge Alcala took over in the 8th and needed just 9 pitches to set the Mariners down 1-2-3. The Twins got a Willians Astudillo single to leadoff the bottom of the 8th but left him on base.
In the top of the 9th, LHP Brandon Waddell, recently added from the Taxi Squad to take the roster spot of OF Brent Rooker, came in to make his Minnesota Twins debut. He got a flyout from the 1st batter he faced then walked the next batter and allowed a double that had runners on 2nd & 3rd but he got a flyout to center and a groundout to 2nd to end the game.
The Twins get Friday off then get back at it in Game 2 against the Mariners at 1:10pm when Twins RHP Michael Pineda (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) takes the mound against Seattle LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) on Bally Sports North.
Game Notes:
*Some people were already thinking Mitch Garver was struggling & looking more like the Mitch Garver from last season as opposed to the 2019 version who slugged 31 Home Runs. He was only 2-for-14 in the first 6 games with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. One of the 2 hits was a Home Run. Is 2-for-14 good? Is 7 strikeouts good? No, but it’s only 14 at-bats and he only started 3 of those 5 games. The 2 other games were pinch-hit at-bats and the 3rd start was leading off against Detroit left-hander Matthew Boyd who he struck out 3 times against. He also struck out 3 times in the 1st game of the season.
He was coming off a late injury in Spring Training, too. It’s just too early to start worrying about any player regardless of how they’re doing. Give them at least some home games and some time to get in some kind of routine and to get some confidence going and also look at if/how he’s hitting the ball. Is he making solid contact or just missing? The bottom line is Mitch deserves plenty of time before anyone starts thinking he’s not able to repeat anything close to that historic 2019 season.
**The pickoff at 2nd in the top of the 5th was a huge play in the game as Seager was the tying run at the plate and who knows what happens since Seager had already walked and had also fouled off 2 pitches to keep the at-bat alive but José Berríos & Andrelton Simmons executed the pickoff to perfection as the throw was right on the money and, as Justin Morneau said, Andrelton Simmons’ “…glovework is just incredible.”
***It’s pretty rare to point out a player’s first single of the season but it’s game 7 and that was Byron Buxton’s 8th hit of the season. The other 7 hits were of the extra-base variety with 3 of them being doubles and the other 4 being home runs. This is why the crowd started chanting MVP after his HR in the 5th. This is what Byron Buxton can do. We just hope we can see it for a full season THIS season. If we do, the Twins might be a special team!
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