As the old song says, when you hit rock bottom, you've got two ways to go: straight up or sideways. We'll see which way the Twins go tonight. The Twins send Adalberto Mejia to the hill, which does not exactly inspire confidence. He's pitched well in Rochester, but has yet to translate that to success in the majors. The Blue Jays counter with Luis Santos, who is not a starting pitcher and who has not done well this season, although he did quite well in Buffalo and pitched well in ten games for the Jays in 2017.
We're obviously not going anywhere, but we still have sixty-five games to play. Let's have some fun. Go Twins!
A Mauer double and an Escobar triple. Not a bad way to start the game.
Would've been nice to do more with it, though.
A five-pitch walk to open the game is not good.
Not pretty, but no giveback runs and we're still up 1-0!
Yeah, Mejia needs to master the art of "throwing strikes, but not batting practice"
It seems like we've had a lot of people in recent years who pitched well in AAA and haven't been able to make the jump to the majors. Mejia may still do it, but I just wonder what the problem is with Twins pitchers making that jump. Or, maybe it's just not as simple as it looks.
Polanco can run a little bit, but not enough.
I get the impression the ball isn't carrying very well tonight.
Cory says Molitor was asked if this start was a one-off for Mejia and he refused to say. Cory said you shouldn't expect him to, but really, why not? I mean, if something happens like a trade or injury that changes your plans, you can always say that. Why not just be honest about it?
Mejia works best when your opponent isn't expecting him.
Mejia is the Spanish Inquisition?
Still 1-0 through two!
Mauer 2-for-2. Half-way to the cycle!
Hot Joe.
Be nice to get a couple of runs this inning.
way to go LoMo!
Morrison with a two-out hit! 3-0 Twins!!!
That's at least two fly balls to the fence for outs.
Danny, there's nothing to "understand" about the pitch location. It didn't go where he wanted it to go. That happens to everybody sometimes, and when you're Adalberto Mejia it happens fairly often.
Limited the damage, anyway. Still up 3-1!
Mauer 3-for-3. And with an RBI! 4-1 Twins!!!
Red hot Joe.
Escobar with the RBI! 5-1 Twins!!!!
That hit was classic Joe
It would be nice if Mejia could do that a few more times.
LOMO
MORRISON! 6-1 TWINS!!!!!
MAX
KEPLER! 8-1 TWINS!!!!!!!
Danny, I don't consider this one a "laugher" just yet. It's only the fifth inning, and we have Mejia on the mound.
Usually (always?) it's the Blue Jays with all of the home runs.
That was back when they had Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion torturing us. The Twins have now won 3 of their last 4 games in Toronto, however, before that, the Twins had lost 7 straight in Toronto.
Just need a triple to complete the cycle-in-an-inning.
Danny, having seen our AAA starters come up this year, I'd think you'd understand why a team might opt for a bullpen game rather than bringing someone up for a spot start.
I don't think today would be the best time to argue for a bullpen game vs. a spot start.
That's the thing about a bullpen game--it looks really ugly when it doesn't work. But then, so does bringing a AAA guy up for a spot start.
Still up 8-1 through five!
Nice to see the ass bats are taking a night off.
Still 8-1 through six!
Blue Jays playing TWINS BASEBALL!!!
Twins are 29th in OPS (.422) with the bases loaded and no outs. Blue Jays are 26th (.597). Overall with the bases loaded, the Blue Jays are 5th with a .870 while the Twins are 7th with a .840. Both teams way above average with two outs.
Still 8-1 through seven!
tWINs