Minnesota Twins at the Milwaukee Brewers – August 14th, 2019

The Minnesota Twins tried to start a winning streak in Milwaukee.

The #MNTwins got a big comeback victory last night and will look to Kyle Gibson to keep the Milwaukee Brewers at bay while they try to start a winning streak.

The Brewers had LHP Gio Gonzalez on the mound and the Minnesota Twins didn’t waste any time getting a run off the Brewers lefty as Mitch Garver led off the game with his 23rd HR of the season. This one went to the opposite field. 2 batters later, Eddie Rosario also went oppo for his 26th HR of the season and the Twins led 2-0 after the top of the 1st.

Given a 2-run lead apparently didn’t help Kyle Gibson because he allowed a single and a walk to the first 2 batters with a Wild Pitch in between before striking out Yelich for the 1st out. Keston Hiura then singled on a ground ball to left field and the Brewers got one run back right away. 2-1 Twins.

In the top of the 3rd, Miguel Sano hit his 21st HR of the season a long ways to get the Twins 2-run lead back. Miguel is hitting the heck out of the ball after changing some swing mechanics that have allowed him to be quicker to the ball. Will he get to 30 HR by the end of the season?

The Brewers put together 3 singles to score in the bottom of the 3rd inning and it was back to a 1-run game again.

The Twins then loaded the bases in the top of the 4th with 1 out on a Max Kepler walk, a Jonathan Schoop double and a Kyle Gibson walk (the good kind) then Mitch Garver struck out for the 2nd out but Jorge Polanco hit a 2-RBI single to give the Twins a 5-2 lead. Finally, a big hit with the bases loaded.

The Brewers answered the Twins once again in the bottom of the 5th when Eric Thames singled in Mike Moustakas, who had doubled (26) with 1 out. 5-3 Twins.

RHP Sam Dyson replaced Gibson in the bottom of the 6th and allowed 1 hit but struck out 2 in the 6th inning. RHP Trevor May then pitched the 7th allowing just a leadoff walk before striking out 2 (Trevor May Strike You Out) then getting Thames to pop out to end the inning.

RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins and Ryan Braun reached on a throwing error by Jorge Polanco. Hernan Perez then singled bringing up Trent Gresham, the player who ended last night’s game with a good at-bat but he got nothing out of it.

He ended up taking a Sergio Romo slider deep to right field to give the Brewers a 6-5 lead. Romo got the next 2 batters out but the damage was done and they ended up bringing in RHP Zack Littell to get out of the 8th inning and now the Twins had to try to come back again.

They had Arraez, Garver & Polanco due up. Arraez flew out to left for the first out and Mitch Garver struck out for the 2nd out so it was up to Jorge Polanco to keep the game alive and he ended up walking then Miguel Sano walked then Eddie Rosario walked to load the bases again and they had C.J. Cron at the plate. 

Cron gave one a ride to left-center field that looked like it might’ve had a chance to go out but Lorenzo Cain had it lined up and caught the ball just short of the warning track to seal a nice comeback victory by the Brewers.

It’s a disappointing loss but the game felt like a game that should be played in about a month from now, a back and forth affair with both teams coming back multiple times, answering runs scored by scoring some runs themselves.

Now, the Twins will travel to Texas to take on the Rangers in a 4-game series starting tomorrow night.

Did you like this? Share it:
Posted in Baseball News and Happenings | Leave a comment

Minnesota Twins Recap at the Milwaukee Brewers – August 13th, 2019

The Minnesota Twins head across the border to play 2 against the Brew. 

The #MNTwins had Monday off but the Cleveland @Indians did not and they won so, for the first time in months, the @Twins were in 2nd place in the American League Central Division.

MLB Network Radio talked to Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli about how the Twins will react to being in 2nd place.

Before the game, the Twins activated right-handed reliever Sam Dyson off the 10-Day IL (Injured List) and optioned RHP Cody Stashak back to AAA Rochester.

They had LHP Martin Perez on the mound and he’s struggled quite a bit so it’s a big start for him as hit spot in the rotation may not be as secure as it once was so it’ll be good to see how he pitches tonight.

He had to work around a couple singles in the first and a leadoff double and a walk in the 2nd to keep the @Brewers off the board and he never had a clean inning but he pitched 6 innings, allowing just 6 hits & 4 walks with only an unearned run allowed while striking out 3.

Perez was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts at the plate but the rest of the Twins offense showed up in the top of the 3rd when, after a Max Kepler walk, Mitch Garver hit his 22nd HR of the season out to left field to put the Twins up 2-0. After Jorge Polanco grounded out, Eddie Rosario walked and Miguel Sano singled on a grounder up the middle to beat the shift and Luis Arraez came through again with an RBI-fielder’s choice to score Rosario and put the Twins in a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 4th, Brewers SS Hernan Perez got a 1-out single then the Milwaukee pitcher Chase Anderson grounded back to Martin Perez so he turned to go to 2nd to start the double play and Jorge Polanco missed the catch for an error. That advanced Hernana Perez to 3rd and allowed OF Lorenzo Cain to also get an RBI-fielder’s choice to get the Brewers on the board at 3-1.

In the top of the 7th, Marwin Gonzalez hit a leadoff single to left field then on a pitch in the dirt, he advanced to 2nd base and the very next pitch was a pinch-hit RBI double down the 3rd baseline by Ehire Adrianza. That doesn’t happen if Marwin isn’t looking to advance on the pitch in the dirt.

Rocco brought in RHP Ryne Harper to pitch the 7th for the Twins and 2B Keston Hiura singled to lead off the inning for the Brewers. That brought up reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich and he doubled off the left-center field wall to score Hiura. 4-2 Twins.

Ryan Braun was given 1st base on Catcher’s Interference but it was a questionable call because the replay had an angle that looked like Braun’s bat didn’t hit Mitch Garver’s glove. What can you do, though? It’s not a reviewable play, unfortunately. On the very next pitch, 1B Yasmani Grandal homered to right field to change a 2-run deficit into a 1-run lead  at 5-4.

Meanwhile, the Indians were at home playing the Red Sox and they had been losing 6-1 but were mounting a comeback and less than a minute before the Twins lost the lead in Milwaukee, Indians SS Francisco Lindor hit an RBI double to tie the game at 6. How crazy is that?

But, hey, the Twins still had their own game to focus on before worrying about what’s happening in Cleveland.

They began the top of the 8th with an Eddie Rosario hustle double that he maybe should’ve been out on but the throw to 2nd base wasn’t caught by Hiura so he couldn’t attempt a tag of Rosie. Miguel Sano then walked. Luis Arraez flew out to left field for the 1st out then C.J. Cron struck out for the 2nd out. That brought up Marwin Gonzalez again and Brewers manager Craig Counsell made the Pitching Change to LHP Josh Hader, who’s one of the most dominant relievers in the game.

The Red Sox had taken a 7-6 lead in Cleveland on a Jackie Bradley, Jr. solo HR so it would be a good time to do something big….right?

Lately, Hader’s been struggling so, on the very first pitch he saw, Marwin hit his 14th HR of the season on a 96mph fastball out to left-center field to put the Twins back in the lead at 7-5. MARWIN GONE-ZALEZZZZZ!!!

RHP Tyler Duffey had pitched the 7th so Rocco brought in newly activated RHP Sam Dyson to pitch the 8th. He started the inning with 2 balls to Hiura but he came back and struck him out then got Yelich to ground out to first for the 2nd out. Ryan Braun then tried to bunt and was thrown out by Mitch Garver to end the 8th inning.

With no offense in the top of the 9th, it was up to RHP Sergio Romo to finish the game. He’s been great since the Twins acquired him in late July. He got Grandal to line out then Moustakas to ground out. He then hit Manny Pina in the shin to put a runner on the bases and rookie Trent Grisham who hadn’t played much but he had a good at-bat, battling through 9 pitches before flying out to short right field to end the game.

Ok, #TwinsTakers, you tell us. Did that feel like a regular season game to you? It sure didn’t to us. A back & forth affair with multiple lead changes and just listen to the sound of that Marwin HR!!!!!

Tomorrow afternoon, it will be RHP Kyle Gibson (11-5, 4.24 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) facing LHP Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 3.20 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) at 1:10pm.

The game is only available on @YoutubeTV, too. I believe it’s free but I’m not positive.

Did you like this? Share it:
Posted in Baseball News and Happenings | Leave a comment

The Cruz Schedule Has Been Updated-Nelson Cruz Doesn’t Need Wrist Surgery

Minnesota Twins DH Nelson Cruz hurts his left wrist on a swinging strike last Thursday.
Minnesota Twins DH Nelson Cruz doesn’t need surgery on his injured wrist.

The #MNTwins got some good news & some bad news today. We’ll start with the bad news so we can end with some good vibes.

The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox in walk-off fashion tonight off the bat of…Carlos Santana and they now lead the American League Central Division by a half-game over our Minnesota Twins.

Man, they are the hottest team in the league right now. When you look back at the beginning of the 2019 season, would you have thought that at separate times of the season, 2 AL Central teams would have the best 1st half and best 2nd half record?

Well, that’s what has happened and it’s good for the division, good for the Indians and good for the Twins. It’s hard to imagine the Twins management and front office staff ever thought it was going to be an easy win in the American League Central. Granted, they knew who was going to be their competition and it looked bleak early in the season for Cleveland but they did build a team that can win and win now.

They are what the Twins are striving for, a perennial playoff contender, and they are getting there. Competition will make this team better. It will show how much fight they have and how good a team they are and how good they can become.

Will the incredible run the Indians are on end at some point? The odds will probably say yes but who knows and, honestly, who cares? The Twins have to handle their business and that’s starts tomorrow night in Milwaukee!

Okay. On to the good news and there’s actually a couple good news items, both involving injured Twins players.

First, Nelson Cruz does not need surgery on his injured wrist and he will begin baseball activities and resume his hitting program tomorrow. Amazingly, after feeling pain on a swinging strike on Thursday and being removed from the game because of it, he woke up on Friday, after being placed on the 10-Day Injured List (IL), without any pain. He said:

“I don’t have any pain. I can grab the bat. It feels good… It looks as if it’ll be good in 10 days.”

That’s Great news for the Twins as Nelson Cruz’s Boomstick was Cruzin’ and having him back in the lineup can only help them in their quest for a division title and a playoff spot.

Second, reliever RHP Sam Dyson threw a successful bullpen session on Sunday and he could be activated tomorrow and be ready to go in Milwaukee.

Let’s see…other news…the 2020 Minnesota Twins Schedule was released today, too.

Dates to watch for:
Opening Day is on March 26th in Oakland and the Home Opener is on April 2nd also against Oakland. Also, the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers & Colorado Rockies will come to town so get those day-off requests in now!
https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/minnesota-twins-2020-schedule-preview

Monthly Schedule: https://www.mlb.com/twins/schedule/2020-03

And last but not least, the Twins #21 Prospect and Cedar Rapids Kernels OF Gilberto Celestino, acquired in the as part of the Ryan Pressly trade, was chosen as one of MLB Pipeline‘s #TopProspectPerformers for yesterday’s games (2-4 w/a HR & 2 RBI) and chosen for their Prospect Team of the Week after hitting .419/.455/.677 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 5 runs, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 4 runs batted in and 3 stolen bases with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in 7 games last week! Congrats…Gilberto!

I mean, that’s just a fun name to say….

GIBLERTOOOOOO CELESTINOOOOO!!!

Did you like this? Share it:
Posted in Baseball News and Happenings | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Twins Recap vs the Cleveland Indians – August 11th, 2019

The Minnesota Twins will try to start a winning streak and get a split against the Cleveland Indians after taking a 1-game lead in the American League Central Division. 

The #MNTwins snapped their 4-game losing streak last night with a nice 4-1 win and now have Jose Berrios on the mound to even the series and increase the lead in the Central Division.

The @Indians counter with rookie RHP Aaron Civale who has an ERA & a WHIP of 0.75 going into the game, the 3rd start of his young career.

The game started with the Indians getting a home run off the bat of OF Greg Allen and an RBI-double from Yasiel Puig that scored Carlos Santana, who walked so it was not a good first inning for Twins starter Jose Berrios but…he got better, allowing just 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 run while striking out 3 in the next 5 innings.

The @Twins got a run back in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Luis Arraez, who just keeps hitting and hitting in big situations, hit a sacrifice fly to score Eddie Rosario from 3rd base. Eddie doubled (17) to lead off the inning and then advanced to 3rd on a flyout from Mitch Garver.

The Indians got that run back in the top of the 3rd when Carlos Santana singled in Francisco Lindor, who led off with a double (27) of his own.

The Twins had only 4 hits in the 3rd through the 8th inning as Civale & allowed just 4 hits through the 6th and relievers RHP Nick Goody, LHP Oliver Perez & RHP Adam Cimber allowed just one hit & one walk while striking out 2 in their 2 innings so the Twins would have to try to get something going against Cleveland closer LHP Brad Hand in the bottom of the 9th.

Right-handed Twins relievers Tyler Duffey, Ryne Harper & Trevor May pitched 3 hitless & scoreless innings (just one walk allowed) to get the Twins into a position to come back in the 9th inning.

The bottom of the 9th started with another Eddie Rosario double (18), on the first pitch. Mitch Garver struck out and Luis Arraez came to the plate. He came through in the clutch again, also hitting the first pitch he saw, singling to right field to score Rosie and get the Twins within one.

C.J. Cron then battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to finally single. Arraez advanced to 2nd and Ehire Adrianza came in to pinch-run for Cron at 1st base.

That brought up Marwin Gonzalez. After going down 0-2, he fouled off 2 inside sliders before getting a fastball up in the zone that he liked and he lined it off the left field wall. Arraez scored from 2nd to tie the game and Ehire Adrianza was on his horse and being sent home by 3rd base coach Tony Diaz. 

Cleveland left fielder Tyler Naquin bare-handed the ball off the wall and threw a perfect relay to Francisco Lindor who turned and threw a perfect throw home to gun Adrianza down at home. 2 outs but the game was tied. Schoop grounded out to 3rd to end the inning and send the game into extra innings.

Rocco brought LHP Taylor Rogers in to pitch the 10th and C Kevin Plawecki singled on a just-want-to-make-contact swing for a single down the first baseline. He was then replaced on the bases by OF Oscar Mercado. Francisco Lindor then walked on 4 pitches. Greg Allen was up looking to bunt the runners over and he bunted past a lunging Taylor Rogers for a bunt single that loaded the bases. Carlos Santana then hit a Grand Slam to put the Indians up 7-3 and that was it.

The Twins grounded out 3 times in the bottom of the 10th to end the game and the American League Central is once again tied at the top between these two teams.

There are a lot of people who were criticizing Twins 3B Coach Tony Diaz for sending Adrianza on the Gonzalez double. Watch the highlight. It took a bare-handed play in left field and 2 perfect throws to nab him at home. If either throw is off just a little, Adrianza is probably safe.

You may not get another chance to score the winning run so I don’t blame Tony Diaz for sending him home!

The Twins once again were in a position to win the game. That probably doesn’t mean much right now because they lost but they were right there with a chance and they got that chance with some great at-bats. The hottest team in baseball is getting the breaks and the Twins are not.

That doesn’t mean the Twins can’t get hot in the next 43 games. 

They have tomorrow off before a 2-game series in Milwaukee vs the Brewers then they’ll head to Texas for 4 against the Rangers and come home for 3 against the White Sox & the Tigers.

26 of the remaining 43 games are against Detroit, Chicago & Kansas City and that doesn’t include the 6 games left against these Cleveland Indians (3 here, 3 there) so LET’S GO, TWINS!!!

The stretch run starts on Tuesday in Milwaukee!

Did you like this? Share it:
Posted in Baseball News and Happenings | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Twins Recap vs the Atlanta Braves – August 5th, 2019

The Twins will face the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves for 3 games.

The #MNTwins have their work cut out for them for the rest of the homestand as they’ll face the National League East Division-leading Atlanta Braves for 3 games before facing division foe, the Cleveland Indians, for 4 games.

Major League Baseball chose the Players of the Week for both Leagues today and…

They chose Toronto Blue Jays 3B Vladimir Guerrero, Jr over @Twins DH Nelson Cruz. You tell me if they made the right choice:

Guerrero, Jr:
.500/.536/.962 (AVG/OBP/SLG) (13-26) w/3 2Bs, 3 HRs, 11 RBI & 5 Rs w/2 BBs & 2 K in 6 games.

Nelson Cruz:
.500/.600/1.667 (AVG/OBP/SLG) (6-12) w/2 2Bs, 4 HRs, 10 RBI & 5 Rs w/2 BBs & 3 K in 5 games.

What do you think? Less than half the at-bats, all hits were extra-base hits, 1 less run batted in, 2 more home run. Wonder how they choose? Is there a tiebreaker? 

New York Mets RHP Noah Syndergaard was the National League’s Player of the Week.

Alright. On to the game. RHP Jake Odorizzi is on the mound against Braves RHP Mike Soroka for a good pitching duel.

The game went scoreless until the bottom of the 4th with Soroka setting down 11 in a row to begin the game but the Twins then hit 4 straight singles with the last one being a 2-run single with the bases loaded from 2B Luis Arraez to take a 2-0 lead.

The Braves got one of those runs back in the top of the 5th on 1B Freddie Freeman’s 27th HR of the season off the top of the left-field wall.

Max Kepler saw Freeman’s HR and did him one better by going out to center field for his 31st HR of the season. Max Kepler has 31 HOME RUNS!!! WOW!!! Just an awesome season from Max!

Jake Odorizzi had a decent start but his pitch count got high early. He battled through 6 innings and left in line for his 13th win with the score at 3-1 Twins.

RHP Ryne Harper replaced Odo and he struck out the first batter he faced then allowed back-to-back singles. A passed ball in between those hits allowed Ronald Acuna, Jr to advance to 2nd base then score on the Ozzie Albies single to get within 1 run at 3-2. Jake Cave got eaten up by a bad hop on that 2nd single allowing Albies to advance to 2nd. Harper then got Freeman to fly out to left for the 2nd out and was then replaced by Twins manager Rocco Baldelli with RHP Tyler Duffey to face 3B Josh Donaldson and Tyler’s first pitch was a hanging curveball that Donaldson laced to left-center field to tie the game. Duffey got a popout to end the inning but the damage was done and the game was all square at 3 runs apiece.

RHP Trevor May was summoned from the Twins bullpen after not pitching for a couple games since getting a win by throwing 1 pitch in the 1st game against the Kansas City Royals. He walked Adam Duvall to lead off the inning then struck out Matt Joyce because Trevor May Strike You Out. He then induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the 8th inning but…

He came out to pitch the top of the 9th and got Charlie Culberson to line out to center before allowing a single to Ronald Acuna. He then got Ozzie Albies to fly out to center. Acuna tagged up and advanced to 2nd to get into scoring position but Trevor struck out Freddie Freeman to end the 9th on some 98mph High Heat! TREVOR MAY STRIKE YOU OUT!!!

On to the bottom of the 9th we went with Eddie Rosario, Marwin Gonzalez & Luis Arraez due up at the plate.

The Eddie chants slowly grew in volume but he softly grounded out to 1st for the 1st out then Marwin grounded out to 2nd for the 2nd out so it was up to Luis Arraez to make something happen and keep this game from going into extra innings. He blooped a 96mph inside fastball into left field to reach and bring up Ehire Adrianza but Rocco decided to pinch-hit for Ehire with Miguel Sano and give the Twins a chance to end it with his power. 

Sano took the first pitch, a low slider for a called strike, then he got an outside cutter that he liked A LOT because he hit it off the limestone of the facing of the 2nd deck in center field for a Walk-Off HR, his 19th HR of the season, an absolute blast that had an exit velocity of 109mph, a launch angle of 29 degrees, an apex of 96 feet and it traveled 443 feet or….

A SANOOOOOOO-DOUBTERRRRR!!!!

#MNTwins Pitching:
Odorizzi: 6IP 5H 1R/ER 3BB 7K
Harper: 0.2IP 2H 2R 1ER 0BB 1K
Duffey: 0.1IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 0K
May: 2IP 1H 0R/ER 1BB 2K 1 Win (5-3)

#MNTwins Hitting:
HR-Kepler (31) Sano (19)
Sano-1-1-Walk-Off 2-R HR in the bottom of the 9th!
Arraez-2-4-2-R 1B, R
Rosie/Cruz-1-4-R
Castro-1-3
Marwin-1-4
Adrianza-0-2-BB
Polanco-0-4
Cave-0-3

The Twins will continue this 3-game series against the Atlanta Braves tomorrow night at 7:10pm and it will be Twins RHP Jose Berrios (10-5, 2.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) on the mound against Braves RHP Mike Foltynewicz (2-5, 6.37 ERA, 1.42 WHIP) on Fox Sports North.

Did you like this? Share it:
Posted in Baseball News and Happenings | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment