Nineteen games. Over 88 percent of the season is complete and the Twins still in the driver seat for a one game playoff against the Yankees. Since the Twins have hit this “easy” part of the schedule, they’ve kind of scuffled. Lose a couple here, win three in a row there. The other teams in wildcard contention are scuffling too and it seems that LAAAAAA is the only team really interested in playing the spoiler to what was considered unthinkable five months ago: The Twins could be a playoff team.
Two game series against the woeful San Diego Padres. Gibby on the mound and he’s been pretty decent of late, including a 3-0 record and a nice 1.69 ERA. Travis Wood on the mound for the Padres. He came over from the Royals so there is some familiarity there. Wood hasn’t had a lot of luck against the Twins so let’s hope this is the start of a nice winning streak. Game at 7:10p. Going to be gorgeous evening… just what you want in September: Meaningful baseball with fantastic weather in a beautiful ball park.
I'm not saying it's a "must win" game, but San Diego is the sort of team the Twins need to beat consistently over the next three weeks if they're going to make the playoffs.
It seems really odd to feel confident about having Kyle Gibson on the mound.
I'm ready for the Twins to get some early runs tonight.
There's one!
Opposite field!
doink doink doink runs
The second inning still qualifies as early runs.
I liked the Dozier who batted in the first inning better than the one who batted in the second inning.
I do like the Mauer from the second inning more than the first though.
Keep it going, boys. Keep it going.
Apparently they did.
POLANCO POWER!!!!!
Polanco with the rally killer.
Seems to me it would've helped the Padres more had they sent their pitching coach out there before the score was 7-0.
The runs, they have arrived.
The Twins have turned a ton of double plays lately.
Well, we're never going to have fewer baserunners with this staff, so that's our best plan
CASTRO!!!!
This Twins lineup is a well oiled machine.
Can they save some of these runs for later?
Jason Castro's last home run before tonight was on August 21. It went unremarked upon at the time, but with that home run, he set a Twins record for most home runs by a player named "Castro".
I still can't get over how nice that .300+ looks on Joe
How about a Dozier cycle tonight? He's got the hardest parts done.
He'll blow it by hitting 2 more home runs.
I hate that.
Ho-hum. Great catch by Buxton.
Haha, Gibson's reaction to that was perfect.
I said "triple" as the ball came of Buxton's bat. Dang.
Anything that gets to the wall from left-center and over towards right I'm automatically thinking triple with Buxton.
EDDIE!!!!
Save some for tomorrow!
and the next day.
SRSLY, fellas, you may need a couple of runs tomorrow. and the next day.
The Twins came into todays game -10 in the run differential department.
https://youtu.be/KRBY4IclYMs
Cleveland up 2-0 with only one half-inning left for number 20.
Kyle Gibson, staff ace.
Check Castro's bat for cork!
CASTRO again!!!!!
20 in a row for Cleveland. wow!
Another game against Detroit so they'll probably get to 21.
if they win with a pitcher who fans 21 I'll concede that it's been a good run.
Detroit's starting pitcher tomorrow is a guy named Buck Farmer.
Welly Kells finds his name funny.
Travis Wood had a game score of -9 for today's start. Ouch.
Escobar hit that homer in Jim Thome territory
Orioles lose. Mariners beating Rangers. Good night so far.
Home runs and shutout pitching is sexy.
remember when gibson wasn't gibson. Me neither.
I do, but I'm suppressing it
You mean like tonight?
Ho-hum, Granite robs home run.
Does this mean Philo has to attend every game for the rest of the season?
No runs scored (barely)! Progress for Perkins...?
A scoreless inning by Perk! His ERA drops to around 13
Heh, Gimenez pinch runs for Dozier. Speed on the bases!
You don't need the speeds when Kennys does that.
KENNYS!
Evvvverybody homers.
Seven innings, seven Homers. Is that a record?
Unfortunately it's not easy to look it up.
According to the broadcast, no team had ever done the first six innings before.
Seven home runs in a game puts the Twins in a very long tie for 25th since 1913. The record is ten with one team having nine. 22 teams, including the Twins, have hit eight.
Per Bremer relayed from their stats guy, no team has hit home runs in each of the first six innings.
In the ten home run game, the Blue Jays hit home runs in six innings. They scored in seven of the eight innings (they were the home team).
In the nine home run game, the Reds hit home runs in seven of the nine innings.
Niko!!
VaRRRgas.
UFFDA.
Dick saw that one coming.
"[he] is going to swing.... Very hard at this one."
I forgot Michael Tonkin was even on the 40 man roster.
I tried to forget.
Well that pitching motion is obnoxious. Like watching Sergio
Would that be Mendez or Aragones?
I loves me some Aragones!
World's fastest!
So, would this be the second biggest shutout victory in Twins history, then?
It's not even the biggest shutout victory this month!
There's nothing wrong with the offense that playing the Padres can't fix.
Angels lose 1-0. Get 1 hit in 8 innings vs. Verlander. Meanwhile, Indians get their 20th straight win in what would have been Verlander's start for Detroit. So Twins up 2 games. Thanks, Tigers.
By fangraphs' measure, Twins climbed above 50% for playoff odds. Had been at ~48% before tonight.
'Twas a great game to attend. I'll never forget that one. Will also have to remember Goodrum's first hit. Don't believe I've seen one of those before (saw Prince Fielder's first HR, which was neat too).
Also had the pleasure of running into Stick, and meeting him in person. He's taller than I realized.
not as tall as neck tat, tho.
No one is that tall.
You lobbed that one right over the plate, Michael. Home run. [Cue GOB pretending to throw a football]
My recollection is that he seemed pretty ordinarily tall. Of course, my main sample there is him, me, and Bootsy.