Brian Dozier to the rescue.
It was just over a year ago that most Twins fans were wondering if Dozier would ever be anything more than a replacement-level player. Now, I don't think there's much question that he's the Twins' Most Valuable Player, or at the very least, most valuable position player. He came into Saturday's game 8th in the AL in rWAR for position players at 2.7, which puts him on pace to possibly be worth 6 WAR by the end of the season.
His value comes from his all-around great play and that was on display Friday night in the ninth inning. First, he made a heady, split-second decision to go for the double play with the bases loaded and one out in a tie game in the top of the ninth. It was heady because he and Danny "AK47" Santana turned it, but it was by no means routine.
Then, in the bottom of the ninth after Eduardo Escobar and Sam Fuld walked, Dozier singled to left field to bring home the winning run.
Dozier's heroics rescued Glen Perkins, who blew a two-run lead in the ninth and was credited with the win after Dozier's big hit. Amazingly, that was the first double play turned behind Perkins this season. It shouldn't be surprising that Perkins hasn't had many double plays turned since he puts few runners on base, he strikes out about 30% of the batters he faces, and those that do put the ball in play, usually do so in the air instead of on the ground.
The only real victim of the blown save was Ricky Nolasco, who struggled with his command but managed to hold the White Sox to 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings. It didn't qualify as a quality start, but I think I'd rather have a line like Nolasco's than the minimum of 3 runs in 6 innings for a quality start, especially with 8 relievers in the bullpen, including two long relievers.
Nolasco continues to be disappointing after signing the largest contract in Twins history for a free agent outside of the organization. What makes him more frustrating is it just isn't much fun to watch him pitch. He throws a bunch of offspeed stuff and it just seems like he's always trying to get batters to chase, which has meant a lot of early exits even when he wasn't pitching all that bad. It's not like watching Mike Pelfrey, perhaps the least fun pitcher to watch in the history of baseball, but it's still not much fun. Maybe this is because we've never really seen him at his best. Hopefully, when that happens he'll be more fun to watch as well. Otherwise, it could be a long 4 years.