Last night's win got Minnesota back over .500, within a game and a half of the 2nd Wild Card spot and only a half-game behind Baltimore, one of the three teams ahead of them in that race. At this point, the Twins are not likely going to catch Kansas City for the Central, and are five and a half behind Toronto for the first Wild Card spot. If they can pass Baltimore, they're still chasing LAA and Texas, and have a series with Tampa this week who they're currently neck-and-neck with. Despite some misgivings about management's plan for the club, it sure is fun when they actually look like a real, live MLB team.
Today sees the Twins' most pleasant surprise pitching-wise, Mike Pelfrey (6-7, 3.62 ERA - 2.25 ERA in four August starts) facing off against up-and-coming Baltimore pitcher Kevin Gausman (2-5, 4.48 ERA). A win today results in both a series and season sweep of the O's. Git 'er done Billy Smith.
The was not a check swing strike.
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONONONONONONONONO!!
Yes, yes...I like Sano.
Joe Mauer's double gives him 332 for his career.
Justin Morneau also has 332 career doubles.
That is good for 330th all time.
That would be one hell of a story if the Twins did catch KC!
Shane!
Shane is a good man.
Nice catch by Shane Robinson
Probably going to need more than two runs with Pelfrey on the mound.
Pelf is kinda livin' life on the edge today, isn't he.
Aye. ~60 pitches through 3, assuming he gets out of this with Schoop.
It feels like Pelf takes about 60 minutes between pitches too, good god.
Sano struck out after getting ahead 3-0? There goes the HoF.
I see the Twins are once again making a mediocre pitcher look like Sandy Koufax. Hope we can get a few bloops again late in the game. Or another Sano homer would work, too.
Gausman isn't a run of the mill mediocre pitcher. He was throwing 98 in the 7th inning. More like a talented pitcher that's inconsistent.
Yup.
"Mediocre" was probably too harsh. Still, that's not an excuse for going innings two through eight without a hit.
#FreeBerrios
Pretty, pretty please. I can't stand to watch Pelf start another game.
Twins batters are looking pretty helpless right now.
don't show the ump up, rook.
Or, maybe the ump could make his strike calls in a timely fashion.
A baserunner! It took an error, but hey, whatever works.
ooo. RBI opportunity for Rosario. Can he get off the schneid?
Dazz really GOMLing Machado on that throw.
Rightly so
How has Sano looked at third? I haven't been paying close enough attention to know whether he's even had any chances.
Can't speak specifically about today, but overall I've thought he's been okay. I have no idea what the metrics show, and it's probably still such a small sample size that they don't mean anything anyway, but there aren't any obvious problems that I'm aware of.
In his 61 innings so far at third, UZR has him at +0.5.
And the futility continues.
J. R. Graham against the meat of the Baltimore order. Can't say I like that much.
Double play the hard way.
The Twins do not seem to excel at rundown plays.
Maybe the batters will do better against the Baltimore bullpen. They can't do much worse.
Unfortunately, they were just as helpless against O'Day.
Don't really understand why Herrmann is being allowed to bat here.
He was completely overmatched there.
From Provus' description, I assume that really should've been an error on Escobar.
NoooooOOOOooooo! Don't tell me that he was successful in Puntoing that!
Man Muscles, Please.
Britton getting a wide zone.
No outs. You can't walk Sano here.
Wow. 99, 97 and late movement. And strike 3 on the check.
For anybody watching--have the Twins been getting hosed by the umps as much as they seem to think they have?
Plouffe!!!!!
Wow. Who'd have thought that?
the first base ump, a minor league replacement, has not had a good day on check swings.
Plouffe!!!
Don't agree with pinch-running for Plouffe. If this game goes into extra innings, we're going to need his bat.
Agreed. With two outs and he's only on first...not a very good gamble.
Plouffe! to Orioles: bite me
"with Eduardo Escobar looming next...." Hahahaha!
Team. Of. Destiny.
heh. Baseball is a funny game.
We're willing to pull Plouffe out of the game, but we're not willing to put Mauer on first because we'd lose the DH.
when your bench consists of a whole bunch of relief pitchers, who can blame them?
Surely one of them can hit as well as Joe.
Ouch.
On phone so lost the </stribbie>.
they'd better score this inning....
it might be time to move Joe down in the order to 5th or 6th.
Sano on second, good thing we have Plou...
Wait. Nunez? Dammit.
If you just want a hit, Nunez has actually been a better hitter for average this year and for his career than Plouffe.
Not the Yankmes, so this should be a 1-2-3 inning.
Ordinary effort? How is that a hit? (watching on radio)
On Hardy? It was very deep in the hole. Only because Hardy has been hurting was there even a chance to throw him out.
Yes. With a slow runner, ordinary effort should have gotten him according to the radio guys.
Twins could use Duffey after Perkins and then demote him and bring up Berrios to take his rotation spot.
OFFS. Well, at least it was foul.
Boy, why didn't the O's PR for Hardy? Nobody left to play the infield?
A little tougher than it should have been, but good inning for Perk.
No runs scored, but several superfluous extra pitches for Perk, unfortunately. Probably no 2nd inning now
probably none anyway.
a run or 8 would be nice this inning
when a .239 hitter PHs for a .159 hitter. 🙁
That's like a .339 hitter batting for a .259 hitter.
uh, no. That's like a crappy hitter pinching for a really crappy hitter.
TWINS BASEBALL!!!TWINS BASEBALL!!TWINS BASEBALL!!
Interesting. What determines the number of exclamation marks on the tb button usage?
It's random. Every view is different.
cool!
TWINS BASEBALL!!
BUXTON!
Woot! TWINS BASEBALL!
On the flip side, PH a .229 guy for your .395 DH?
Provus(?) getting pretty excited here.
Tommy Milone, proven closer
Perkins, proven winner.
release the puppies!
It's good to know it isn't the entire AL East.
17-13 vs. the AL East. Twins had lost 9 in a row to the AL East before this series, however.
Season sweep vs the O's? That's not just a broom, that's like a whole house vacuum.
we keep those in aisle four, I believe.
I decided to make lasagna for the first time ever today. Turns out, that's a lot of work. But I had the game on the whole way, and as I finally put it in the oven, Milone closed out the win. That was a lot of fun. Messy, but fun. Both the game and the lasagna.
I decided to make grilled pizza. It's also a good deal of work but my timing isn't as good as yours.
did you make the noodles too, use fresh, or use dried?
I agree. Lasagna is a major production. But oh, so good, when done with a bit o' effort. I have not made it in years (Because Vegan Girl). It will be making a triumphant return this winter.
I grilled veggie burgers and stir-fried veggies.
If Rosario doesn't drop that fly ball Hardy doesn't go to second on the ensuing single. Hardy isn't pinch run for and Machado doesn't play shortstop for the first time ever and make a bad error.
Way to go Eddie!
He was originally a shortstop before he was promoted to the bigs, and he is one of the best defensive third basemen in the game, but yeah, probably a little rusty.