The #MNTwins had RHP Kenta Maeda on the mound and if it weren’t for that Dobnak guy, he’d be the Minnesota Twins best starting pitcher right now.
Maeda began the game by getting through the whole Milwaukee Brewers lineup perfectly in the 1st 3 innings and by the time he took the mound in the bottom of the 4th, the Twins offense had already put up 7 runs on the board by scoring 5 in the 2nd inning & 1 each in the 3rd & the 4th inning.
The top of the 2nd began with a Marwin Gonzalez groundout to 2nd but Miguel Sano walked and Jake Cave sent a double(1) to the left field wall and the Big Man scored all the way from 1st base. Buxton grounded out to 2nd but Jake Cave advanced to 3rd on the play. 4 straight singles from 2B Luis Arraez, C Mitch Garver, SS Jorge Polanco and DH Nelson Cruz followed by a Wild Pitch scored 4 more runs for a quick 5-0 Twins lead.
Miguel Sano hit a solo HR (4) in the 3rd inning and a Marwin Gonzalez RBI double(1) to right field in the 4th inning made it 7-0 Twins.
Brewers LF Christian Yelich hit a 2-out single to right field in the 4th inning for their 1st hit of the game but Kenta Maeda then set down the next 6 Milwaukee batters until he gave up a single (3B Eric Sogard), an RBI double (2B Keston Hiura) & an RBI-single (SS Luis Urias) with 2 outs in the 6th innng to allow the only 2 runs of the game to the Brewers.
When he allowed those 2 runs, Kenta Maeda’s offense had already added 5 more runs to their 7-0 lead.
In the top of the 5th, the Twins batted around as RF Jake Cave made the 1st & 3rd outs of the inning. In between those outs, though…
Byron Buxton hit his 4th HR of the season to left field and then they went single (Arraez), single (Garver) & walk (Polanco) to load the bases for DH Nelson Cruz. He ended up walking in a run and LF Eddie Rosario also walked in a run. Marwin Gonzalez then hit a sacrifice fly before Cave ended the inning just like he began the inning. It’s alright, Jake. Remember, you started the scoring in this game with an RBI-double in the 2nd!
In the top of the 6th, Byron Buxton hit his 5th HR of the game and he did it by having a great at-bat battling for 9 pitches. He was down 0-2 and had to foul off a curveball and 2 singers while also taking 3 balls before getting that 9th pitch, which as you can see in the video below was low but he got the barrel to it and set it 424 feet out to left center field.
Kenta Maeda pitched into the 7th inning for the 1st time this season for him or any Twins starting pitcher but he gave up a single to lead off the bottom of the 7th then got his 5th strikeout and a lineout to center but walked the catcher so Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli brought in LHP Caleb Thielbar to get the last out of the 7th.
Twins LHP Lewis Thorpe was brought in to pitch the 8th and then finished the game. He gave up a single in the 8th and a leadoff double (Justin Smoak) but also got 2 swinging strikeouts including one to end the game.
It’s good to see Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton and maybe most of all Mitch Garver have some success with the bat but also the whole Twins offense to have a big game which allowed the bullpen to rest and get Lewis Thorpe some work in after struggling in his last start.
The Twins have Thursday off before they start a 7-game homestand beginning with a 4-game series against the Royals on Friday and ending with a 3-game series against these Brewers that starts on Tuesday.
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