So, it's after Labor Day and the Twins are just about done (Tragic Number is 12). Byron Buxton is exiled, Sano is mired in a horrible slump, Someone called Johnny Field is playing in the outfield and Chris Gimenez is making "contributions." Makes me almost pine for the days when I paid attention to NFL football. Almost.
Anyway Twins play the Astros so you can see Justin Verlander pitch. He's not the dominant pitcher he was a few years back but he doesn't have to be given the Astros' lineup. Also 240 Strikeouts, 181 Innings Pitched, WHIP of 0.95 are all among the league leaders. Trevor May is the Opener for the Twins, I couldn't find who is coming in after him. Sorry for the half-bakedness.
EDIT: Apparently Kohl Stewart is the Follower tonight.
Game at 7:10p
I'm moving the minor league playoff updates over here. For Princeton in the bottom of the second, Grant Witherspoon singled, Roberto Alvarez tripled, and Jake Palomaki hit a two-run homer. The Rays led the Twins 3-2. But in the top of the fourth, Alex Robles hit a two-out single and Jean Carlos Arias followed with a two-run homer. The Twins lead the Rays 4-3 going to the bottom of the fourth.
In the Fort Myers third, Royce Lewis singled and stole second. Ryan Costello delivered a two-out RBI single and scored from first on a Jose Miranda double. The Miracle leads Palm Beach 3-0 in the top of the fourth.
Minor league updates will at least assure we don't have tumbleweeds.
Two singles, a walk, and a force out produce a run for Palm Beach. Fort Myers lead 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
Elizabethton continues to lead Princeton 4-3 through five.
could you remind us of the playoff implications?
It's the first game of both playoff series. Elizabethton is in the finals, a best-of-three series. Fort Myers is in the semi-finals, also a best-of-three series.
ahh, whoops. i thought we might still going for the miracle miracle.
Chris Williams singled and scored from first on an Alex Robles double with two out. Elizabethton now leads Princeton 5-3 going to the bottom of the sixth.
Fort Myers continues to lead Palm Beach 3-1 through five.
Minnesota continues to stink it up.
May is struggling like alligator food.
Fort Myers continues to lead Fort Myers 3-1 through 6 1/2.
Princeton scored in the bottom of the sixth on a hit batsman, a wild pitch, and a Grant Witherspoon single. Elizabethton lead 5-4 through six.
Gameday indicates "injury delay" in the Twins game. What happened?
Yikes. The Fort Myers broadcaster said Sano was carted off the field. That doesn't sound good.
In the Elizabethton seventh, Yeltsin Encarnacion singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Yunior Severino single. Lean Marrero then doubled to put men on second and third and a wild pitch scored Severino. Elizabethton leads 7-4 through seven.
Fort Myers continues to lead 3-1 through 7 1/2. Andro Cutura pitched very well for the Miracle, striking out nine in seven innings while giving up one run on four hits and two walks. Ryan Mason pitched a perfect eighth.
Elizabethton continues to lead Princeton 7-4 through 7 1/2.
Palm Beach opened the ninth with an error and a single, putting men on first and second with none out. But a double play and a strikeout put this one in the win column for the Miracle. Fort Myers wins, 3-1! They take a 1-0 lead in the series, which moves to Palm Beach tomorrow.
A Robbie Grossman double got the Twins on the board, but they trail 4-1 in the third. If anyone hears anything about Sano, please let me know.
injured sliding into second.
"Lower left leg bruise" doesn't sound that bad if, in fact, that's all it turns out to be. I mean, that's easy for me to say, and I'm sure it hurts, but it's not as bad as it might have been.
i saw the last couple seconds of the play. it didn't look "terrible". hopefully that's all it is.
When it happened, it looked pretty innocent until Sano starts rolling around on the ground writhing in pain. It was his left shin that had, had the rod placed in it last year. Not sure if that would cause an impact to be more painful. He also just might have been freaked that he re-injured the same shin. Hopefully, the initial diagnosis of a bruise is correct and they don't find a "stress reaction" later on.
Princeton opened the eight with two walks but failed to score. Still 7-4 Elizabethton going to the bottom of the ninth.
And Jacob Blank strikes out the side in the ninth. Elizabethton wins 7-4! They take a 1-0 lead in the series, which moves to Elizabethton tomorrow.
I don't know about Twins management, but I've learned something about the Opener experiment. Don't do it.
I'm pretty sure they're going to continue doing it until the end of the season.
Might as well. It's not like these games matter anyways. (The A's would disagree, but oh well.) Stewart certainly seemed to think it was a great idea. Maybe the Twins shouldn't announce who's going to start till closer to game time so the opener won't have a day or two to think about it.
I wasn't very sold on the opener in the first place, and obviously nothing has happened here to change my mind. I still think that, if it works at all, it takes better relief pitchers than the Twins have. Having said that, though, two games is clearly not a fair test.
...it takes better relief pitchers than the Twins have
That's the key point right now. Hard to judge it's effectiveness when the Opener can't get through the first inning without giving up 2-4 runs.
Primary pitcher Stewart did pretty well. I am a bit surprised that May did so poorly. He has experience as a starter and has done well so far as a reliever this year. But, also easy to see how the intersection of those two could cause issues.