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The banged-up #MNTwins tried to win the series against the Cleveland Indians today.

They had RHP Randy Dobnak start and then followed with LHP Devin Smeltzer with RHP Kyle Gibson still on the IL and they were pitching against RHP Mike Clevinger who’s been pitching very well since the end of June, going 9-0 in his 12 starts with a 1.93 ERA & a 1.04 WHIP with 101 strikeouts in 74.2 innings so…uhh…yeah.

Dobnak gave up 3 hits & 2 runs on a Franmil Reyes single after he walked Yasiel Puig and Jason Kipnis doubled (22) in the 2nd inning. LHP Devin Smeltzer replaced him to start the 3rd inning and allowed a 2-out 1st-pitch HR to Carlos Santana. 3-0 Cleveland.

Mike Clevinger didn’t allow a hit until Mitch Garver led off the bottom of the 4th inning with his 29th HR of the season. Willians Astudillo hit a 2-out ground rule double (8) but Luis Arraez grounded out to first to ending the inning.. 3-1 Cleveland.

Francisco Lindor then hit his 29th HR of the season in the top of the 5th to get the run the Twins scored right back. It was a no-doubter as LF Eddie Rosario didn’t even move when it was hit. 4-1 Cleveland.

RHP Cody Stashak replaced Smeltzer to begin the 7th inning. He walked the first batter he faced then Lindor doubled (36) down the right field line. Oscar Mercado hit a sacrifice fly to put the Indians up 5-1.

In the bottom of the 7th, Luis Arraez hit a 1-out single that was followed by Ehire Adrianza’s 8th double of the season and that brought up OF LaMonte Wade who was still looking for his 1st MLB Hit even though he was getting walks, including 2 in his 1st 2 plate appearances. CLE Manager Terry Francona started his bullpenning with RHP Nick Wiigren. Wade hit an 0-1 pitch hard to the left of 2B Jason Kipnis who got to it but couldn’t field it cleanly. Luis Arraez scored from 3rd and the Twins were within 3. Schoop walked to load the bases so Rocco used C.J. Cron to pinch-hit for Ian Miller, who came in for Max Kepler after the 1st inning. Cron struck out so but Garver was up next. He struck out to end the inning. DOH!

Just acquired OF Ryan LaMarre replaced Cron, playing center field.
RHP Fernando Romero pitched the final 1.2 innings and looked pretty good, allowing just 2 hits & an intentional walk while striking out 2.

Cleveland LHP Oliver Perez set the Twins down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th so it was the 9th or nothing.

Luis Arraez was robbed of 2 extra-base hits today. He hit a flyball over the head of LF Greg Allen but he somehow reached out with his glove and made the catch for the 1st out.

Ehire Adrianza also flew out to left field so rookie LaMonte Wade, Jr had to try to extend the game, fresh off his #1stMLBHit. He ended up getting hit by a pitch. Jonathan Schoop then walked for a 2nd time. That brought up CF Ryan LaMarre. He battled to a full count then watched strike 3 end the game! NOOOOO!!!!

I was at the game and wondering why they wouldn’t pinch-hit Miguel Sano in that spot but found out later he was not available.

So…the Minnesota Twins have tomorrow off before starting a 3-game series against former teammate Brian Dozier & the Washington Nationals.

The pitchers are already listed for all 3 games. It will be RHP Jose Berrios on Tuesday, LHP Martin Perez on Wednesday and RHP Kyle Gibson is the pitcher listed so they must already know he’ll be able to come off the 10-Day Injured List.

That’s good news after all the bad things that have happened over the past 3 days, Cruz & Cave being removed on Friday, the Michael Pineda news yesterday and Max Kepler leaving today’s game with what was called an injured chest.

Buxton is going to see a shoulder specialist in California and he might need season-ending shoulder surgery.

The saying is Next Man Up but you usually know who that next man is. Who knew Ryan LaMarre would be back on this team a couple days ago.
It will be interesting to see how this team plays these last 19 games. The Clinch number is still 14! After the 3-game series vs Washington, they head to Cleveland for 3 then play the last 13 against the Chicago White Sox (4 at home), the Kansas City Royals (6 total (3 Home, 3 Road) & Detroit Tigers (3 Road).

Cleveland heads to LA for 3 then plays 9 straight at home (3 vs MIN, 3 vs DET, 3 vs PHI) and finishes with 6 road games against CWS & WSH.

The #MNTwins had a rough morning with the news of RHP Michael Pineda’s 60-game suspension due to violating the MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention & Treatment Program with a substance that he received from a friend/acquaintance that he wanted to lose some weight.

That’s a huge blow to a team that has had trouble with their starting pitching since the All-Star Break other than Pineda, who was on a roll.

They also lost Nelson Cruz & Jake Cave to day-to-day injuries in last night’s game.

That being said. I don’t know about you but I figured this team would respond the way they have all season and that’s by playing a tough ballgame against a division opponent who’s chasing them in the standings. Their resiliency is a big reason why they’re currently leading the American League Central division by 5.5 games with 21 games to play.

So…how would RHP Jake Odorizzi and the Twins come out in a big game?

It might’ve been good for the Twins to have Jake Odorizzi pitching today because, next to Pineda, he’s the starting pitcher that’s pitching best in this rotation and it feels like he wants to be the guy to get this team going in the right direction again, especially from a starting pitching standpoint.

Jake came out on fire, striking out the side in the top of the first on 12 pitches then, in the bottom of the first, Mitch Garver hit his 27th HR of the season out to left-center field to put the home team up 1-0 early!!! That HR made him the Minnesota Twins franchise leader for most Home Runs in a single season from the catcher position so, yes, another HR Record for the 2019 Minnesota Twins.

Jake had 2 more strikeouts in the top of the 3rd for a total of 6 through 3 innings. His offense loaded the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 3rd with Eddie Rosario coming to the plate. He worked the count to 3-1 then hit the next pitch, which would’ve been ball four, to left field to end the inning. It likely would’ve also taken the starting pitcher out of the game and got into Cleveland’s bullpen in the 3rd inning. Unfortunately, Eddie wants to swing 99% of the time so instead of taking a 2-0 lead with the possibility of a big inning, the inning ended and the Twins were still only up 1-0.
*Eddie Rosario is a great hitter. He would be an outstanding hitter if he brought some discipline to his at-bats. Do you think with OF Alex Kirilloff pretty close to being ready for a promotion to the Twins soon (he’s on an absolute tear right now), would the Twins Front Office consider using him as part of a trade to get a starting pitcher? Would the Mets be interested in something like that for RHP Noah Syndergaard? Hmmm…

Odorizzi kept rolling through the 5th, now with a total of 10 strikeouts but trouble started in the 6th when he walked 2 straight batters after getting Lindor to ground out for the first out. He then allowed a game-tying double to Yasiel Puig and was removed in favor of RHP Tyler Duffey. Duffey has been pitching great for a good while now and had 24 strikeouts in his last 13.1 innings since the beginning of August. He kept that going by striking out Jason Kipnis with runners on 2nd & 3rd. He then threw a wild pitch that scored Carlos Santana to give the Indians a 2-1 lead but then came back from a 3-0 count to strike out Franmil Reyes to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 6th, with Miguel Sano on 2nd (double (18)), C.J. Cron was down 0-2 and Cleveland C Roberto Perez called for an outside slider and right before the pitch, he moved way outside to receive the pitch. He wasn’t behind any part of the plate. The pitch was way outside and the umpire called it a strike. JUST A BIT OUTSIDE….

Nelson Cruz, who was scratched from the lineup with wrist soreness, was ejected from the game after that strike call.

RHP Zack Littell allowed a 1-out single then got a force out that Cron made a good defensive play on to get the lead runner but speedy Greg Allen was now on 1st and he ended up stealing 2nd base with Francisco Lindor at the plate but Littell got him to fly out to end the top of the 7th.

Willians “La Tortuga” Astudillo then led off the bottom of the 7th a single that Lindor got to but couldn’t make the throw. He then attempted a throw to 1st after seeing Astudillo turn the wrong way (or something) and the balled rolled out of his hand so Astudillo ran to 2nd but the umpires said time was called and Astudillo had to return to 1st base. The umpires were not popular tonight.

Jonathan Schoop then tripled off the center field wall to tie the game and the umpires were forgotten about. Cleveland manager Terry Francona then went into his bullpen moves changing to LHP Oliver Perez to face Max Kepler, who walked, then changing to RHP Nick Goody to face Mitch Garver and…on a fastball down the middle, the new Minnesota Twins HR Catcher King broke his own record with his 2nd HR of the night (28) to the opposite field and it was 5-2!!! 4 runs is a lot of fun!!!

RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th and he got the first 2 outs but then gave up a double to Puig then Kipnis singled Puig in to make it 5-3 but Romo struck out Reyes to end the top of the 8th.

Twins rookie OF LaMonte Wade came in to replace Luis Arraez in the top of the 8th as a defensive replacement. He went to right field and Rosario moved to left field. Wade then led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk and was then pinch-run for by Byron Buxton. Nice game, LaMonte! HA!

LHP Taylor Rogers came in for the save and made a great play going to his left on a ground ball back to the pitcher then had to run to first to make the out himself because C.J. Cron was shifted about halfway between 1st & 2nd. He then got Perez to fly out to right field and struck out Jordan Luplow on a down and in curveball for a game-ending swinging strikeout.

The Twins once again lead the division by 6.5 games and the number to clinch is now 14. That’s 14 Twins wins and/or Indians losses to clinch a division title and they’ll look to change that number tomorrow with RHP Randy Dobnak on the mound at 1:10pm on Fox Sports North pitching against Indians RHP Mike Clevinger.

Does it feel like we’re getting closer to playoff baseball?

The #MNTwins & Boston Red Sox had themselves a pitching duel tonight to decide the 3-game series in Boston at Fenway Park.

Boston got on the board first when Mookie Betts hit his 26th HR of the season to lead off the bottom of the 4th inning and take a 1-0 lead.

The Minnesota Twins then responded by walking the bases loaded and getting a run when C.J. Cron grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. No RBI which we’ve never understood but pretty sure Cron doesn’t care.

Twins starter LHP Martin Perez threw 6 innings of 1-run ball, giving up just 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 1. He was rewarded when the Twins walked the bases loaded again in the top of the 7th with 2 outs. Boston made a pitching change so Rocco made his move by pinch-hitting a turtle, No, THE TURTLE for Jonathan Schoop and Willians La Tortuga Astudillo hit an RBI-single to score Miguel Sano and put the Twins up 2-1.

The #MNBP then took over and they continued to do what they have been doing….shutting down the opponent! It started with RHP Trevor May (1IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 1K-#TrevorMayStrikeYouOut) then it was RHP Tyler Duffey (1IP No Hits. No Walks. 2 K!).

RHP Sergio Romo then came in to pitch or, at least, begin the 9th inning. He got Mookie Betts to ground out but allowed a single to Xander Bogaerts so Rocco made his move to #MrRogers and he had to face 3B Rafael Devers with J.D. Martinez on deck if Devers keeps the game aline.

Devers hit a slow-rolling grounder to 2nd base and the Twins had a chance to end it with a double play but Devers beat out the throw to first so J.D. Martinez came to the plate and worked the count to 2-2 then hit a low slider off the Green Monster in left field. Twins LF Eddie Rosario played it perfectly off the wall and he threw a one-bounce throw to C Jason Castro and GUNNED DOWN DEVERS at the time to WIN THE GAME!!!!

WOW!!! That’s a nice win against a tough opponent fighting for their playoff lives in a tough park and it put the Twins up 6.5 games on the Cleveland Indians to make the number to clinch the division 16 games of either Twins wins and/or Cleveland losses with 22 games to play!

AND…guess who their next opponent is?

Those Cleveland Indians who are now fighting for their playoff lives being 1 game back of the 2nd Wild Card team which is currently the Oakland Athletics.

So, it will be a fun 3-game series over the weekend starting with RHP Michael Pineda against Cleveland RHP Adam Plutko at 7:10pm on FOX Sports North!!!

Today, the #MNTwins tried to win the 4-game series in Detroit with RHP Jake Odorizzi on the mound against RHP Jordan Zimmerman.

Miguel Cabrera got the scoring started with his 10th HR of the season in the bottom of the 1st to put the Detroit Tigers up 1-0.

The Minnesota Twins responded in the top of the 2nd when Luis Arraez led off the inning with a double (13) to left field and, after C.J. Cron & Jake Cave grounded out & lined out on the first pitch they saw, Ehire Adrianza came to the plate and, on the first pitch he saw, he put the Twins in the lead with a 2-run HR, his 5th of the season.

In the bottom of the 5th, Odo allowed 3 straight singles to tie the game and a sacrifice fly later in the inning that put the Tigers up 3-2.

It wasn’t looking good but in the top of the 8th, LaMonte Wade walked to lead off the inning then Luis Arraez singled but C.J. Cron & Jake Cave struck out for the 1st & 2nd outs. That brought up Ehire Adrianza and he singled on the first pitch he saw (again) but it was an infield single so it just loaded the bases for Max Kepler and Max worked the count into his favor at 2-1 then he got an outside fastball and just went with the pitch for a 2-out, 2-run single that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.

The Twins bullpen had put up 3 scoreless innings allowing just 4 hits and striking out 3 to that point with innings from RHPs Tyler Duffey (2H, 3K) Zack Littell (2H) & Sergio Romo (0s across his line) setting up LHP Taylor “Mr.” Rogers to come in for the save and he set them down 1-2-3 ending the game with a strikeout for his 22nd save of the season.

They’ll head to Boston for 3 games against the Boston Red Sox starting tomorrow night and RHP Randy Dobnak is scheduled to start for the Twins against Red Sox RHP Rick Porcello at 6:10pm on FOX Sports North.

The #MNTwins broke 3 HR records last night. Unless you’ve not watched any baseball this season, you know the big one, 268 HRs in a single season by one team. But, how ‘bout the other 2?

Well, Jorge Polanco hit his 20th and that made it 8 players with 20+ HRs which has never been done before and Garver’s 2 HRs broke the record for most HRs from the catching position in the American League with 39 (Garver-26, Castro-12, Astudillo-1). 

Well, it’s September 1st so the Minnesota Twins had the option to call-up any player who was on their 40-man roster so they did and it meant a whole lot of Twinsactions…

They first selected the contract of #3 Prospect RHP Brusdar Graterol (Brew-stir Grat-er-all) to put him on the 40-Man Roster. He’s a young prospect who is normally a starter but he’s had a year that had him miss a lot of games due to injury so they Twins will most likely use him out of the bullpen. He throws in the upper 90s and reached 103.8mph the other night so it should be fun to see him pitch any & every time he takes the mound.

They also selected the contract of OF Ian Miller, who they picked up from Seattle on August 10th for cash. He’s a 27-year-old left-handed hitter who has yet to make his MLB Debut. He looks like a decent hitter with good plate discipline, speed on the bases but not a lot of power.

They recalled LHP Devin Smeltzer, RHP Zack Littell & RHP Kohl Stewart. 

They also activated C Willians Astudillo & OF LaMonte Wade, Jr. from the injured list (IL).

They placed RHP Kyle Gibson on the IL with ulcerative colitis, something he’s been dealing with all season after getting e coli poisoning while doing charity work in Hait in the offseason. Hopefully, he can get healthy soon but that doesn’t sound like fun at all.

And…last but not least by a long shot, they activated CF Byron Buxton off the IL. He is said to be only available for pinch-running and as a defensive replacement for the right now.

Alright, now…to the actual Twins action from today!

RHP Michael Pineda was on the mound against @Tigers RHP Spencer Turnbull.

The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 1st and Detroit OF Victor Reyes singled & stole 2nd base before got a strikeout, a lineout and a groundout to get out of the 1st with no damage.

In the top of the 2nd, Miguel Sano walked with 1 out on the board. Luis Arraez then doubled (12) to advance Sano to 3rd. Jake Cave hit a 2-run single then La Tortuga was hit by a pitch and Jason Castro singled to score Cave from 2nd. Kepler lined out for the 2nd out but Polanco & Nelson Cruz hit back-to-back RBI singles to put the Twins up 5-0.

The Tigers hit back-to-back doubles (Lugo & Dixon) to get on the board in the bottom of the 2nd. 5-1 Twins.

In the top of the 5th, 2B Luis Arraez singled with 1 out then advanced to 2nd on a Jake Cave groundout and then scored on a Willians Astudillo RBI-single. 6-1 Twins.

Pineda had sat down 8 in a row until the bottom of the 5th when he walked the leadoff batter. He struck out the next two batters but also threw 2 wild pitches on those strikeouts to allow Brandon Dixon to advance to 3rd and then score on another Victor Reyes single. 6-2 Twins.

Max Kepler left the game due to an injured leg in the bottom of the 6th. He was replaced by just-activated LaMonte Wade, Jr. who went to RF while Jake Cave moved to CF.

After a Miguel Cabrera single to leadoff the bottom of the 6th, Michael Pineda struck out the next 3 batters for his 9th strikeout of the game. He would be replaced by RHP Sam Dyson and he’d allow a solo HR to Jordy Mercer but he got through the 7th with no other damage. 6-3 Twins.

In the top of the 8th, LaMonte Wade reached on a force out then advanced to 2nd on Polanco’s single and scored on Nelson Cruz’ RBI-single and that was followed by an Eddie Rosario RBI-single that scored Polanco so the Twins got 2 insurance runs to make it 8-3.

RHP Sergio Romo pitched a perfect 8th with 1 strikeout. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th and that set up the Major League Baseball debut of Twins RHP Brusdar Graterol. His center fielder was also changed to Byron Buxton who replaced Jake Cave.

Graterol’s first pitch was 100mph on the radar gun but was actually 99.6mph but he needed just 4 pitches to strike out Dawel Lugo for his 1st MLB Strikeout. He then allowed a single to Brandon Dixon and threw a wild pitch to allow Dixon to advance to 2nd and that brought out pitching coach Wes Johnson for a Mound Visit and on the very next pitch, he got Jake Rogers to ground into a 4-3 double play to end the game!

Nice job, Brusdar!

The Twins will go for the series tomorrow with RHP Jake Odorizzi on the mound at 12:10pm on Fox Sports North pitching against Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmerman.