Last night's game felt special. Cleveland lost early in the day. There was a chance to extend the lead. Things weren't working amazingly for the offense, but they did enough, and the pitching really stepped up. It had the feel of a team that knew what they had to do, and just executing. And then that final play... Winning a game on a memorable play like that... it seems like the kind of thing you see from the teams that are putting the pressure on others, not dealing with it themselves.
And tonight, the Twins get to apply that pressure directly. With a 6.5 game lead and just 22 to play, Cleveland is running out of room fast. Every win the Twins rack up this weekend further dents the Indians' chances to make to playoffs. It's a stark difference from the last time Cleveland left town, having tied up the division. Two very different directions for the clubs, and now it feels like the Twins can play loose and easy, and let their game be what it is.
I'm looking forward to a great weekend series, and hopefully, maybe even a Francisco Lindor concession speech.
sa-WING batter
Yay Jason Morneau on mic tonight
Best news I've heard all day
oh, wait, we're still pitching to Santana?
Cruz and Cron.
Sam Dyson might have more clean MRIs than clean innings with the Twins.
A "beat the other team number" of 16 now entering today.
Gordo’d.
Broadcast talking about the Twins never stealing bases and nobody complaining about the game being bad.
These ass-bats
we've proved we can win with assbats...but I don't like it
Cron-ked double.
All these grounders to the right side...
Conversations between Wes Johnson and Big Mike will always look hilarious
Whew.
Keep ‘em coming, boys!
Gameday: Devin Smeltzer scores.
And now they fixed it.
Every time Cruz winces, I hear the Red Alert klaxon.
The bullpen has been so good lately
August was their best month yet by ERA and OPS+. September has been even better.
Lamonte Wade Jr up to 4 runs scored on no career hits.
(I'm a little behind as usual)
Wade’s going to get a hit eventually, but I feel bad for him all the same.
.364 OBP is rather impressive with a .000 batting average.
The walk-off homer is going to be fun
So New York calls Arraez out in about 12 seconds when it looks like the first baseman's foot may have come off the bag, but not sure. But some plays that are super obvious take New York three minutes.
I assume this has everything to do with the bathroom breaks at the league office.
I won’t be disappointed when Lindor signs with the Barves.
Littell!!!
Sweet pickoff
now let's get him a W
Sweet K!
Awesome appearance by Littel.
This is setting up for a Wade walkoff
WALK-off?
FTFY
OBP FTW
Hi everybody.
is the spirit moving you?
What proof?
What is the consequence to my point total if the spirits lie to me?
Depends on how the spirits move me
Norm!
That was maybe a strike.
Oh my. Cash in the gift card, Schoop.
Okay, after that error I'm going to Spooky a walk-off from Schoop
I knew that was a bad idea
So much for rupturing the tendon solving the pain issue.
Rupture all the tendons?
Not sure what Schoop thought he was going to do with that pitch.
Judging on how Pérez set up, he wasn't alone.
I have a good feeling about this.
6 more outs
That's one the hard way
Arraez my goodness.
Cron owes Arraez a drink
A bit late on the comment, but I don’t know if I love or hate ‘Free-Swinging’ Eddie. Such a frustrating player to watch when the hacks he takes don’t produce.
Arraez is special.
Drink?
For fucks sake.
Dido.
That’s the one.
Graterol does NOT look 260.
Bring on the gatoraid kid.
He sure does throw some hot metal.
The game isn't done yet?!
Perez is so annoying. Seems like he’s hitting .400 against the Twins, rather than .176.
I’ve seen this movie before.
FFS.
Dido
Death by a thousand grounders.
I blame meat
I’m taking a lot of heat about all sorts of things lately. Come at me, bro. /winks
I'm assuming you sacrificed a twins game in some sort of voodoo ritual in exchange for a good car buying experience.
I realize we’re burning arms here, but bringing in Hildenberger seems like raising the white flag.
Fuck this, I’m out.
Hildenberger returns with a BOSO
Welcome to the Bigs, kid. ☹️
If Twins played their infield defense straight up against Perez, they very likely would at least have gone to the 12th inning. I get it that the numbers say Perez almost always pulls the ball on the ground, but maybe, just maybe, there's times that a batter would change their approach, like 2 outs in extra innings with the go-ahead run at third base and 2 outs and maybe, just maybe, Perez is going to have a real hard time pulling the ball from a RH pitcher that's throwing the ball 100 mph on the outside part of the plate.