2023 Game 98 – Twins at Mariners

After laying a big egg in Baltimore to end the first half, the local nine have been playing much better ball since their return from the All-Star break with a sweep of the Athletics and two wins in three games with Seattle. The Twins will try to seal a series win from the Mariners in a businessman's special this afternoon.

The Twins will send Pablo Lopez (5-5, 4.24 ERA, 145 K) to the mound today, Seattle will counter with sophomore right-hander George Kirby (8-8, 3.43 ERA, 93 K). Let's hope the Twins bats make a lot of noise again today, it sure is entertaining to watch when this team is hitting well.

Play ball!

Minor Details: Games of July 19

SAINTS 9, STORM CHASERS 4 IN OMAHA

Leading 3-1, St. Paul scored four in the fifth.  Mark Contreras hit a two-run homer in the inning.

Andrew Stevenson was 3-for-4 with a double.
Chris Williams was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two RBIs.
Contreras hit a two-run homer, his ninth.

Louie Varland pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out three.

SOD POODLES 7, WIND SURGE 5 IN AMARILLO

Wichita scored three in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie, but Amarillo came back with four in the bottom of the seventh to go ahead 6-5.

Brooks Lee was 3-for-4 with a home run (his tenth), a double, a walk, and three runs.
Tanner Schobel was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.*

Chad Donato struck out five in five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks.
Curtis Taylor struck out all three men he faced.

KERNELS 7, CHIEFS 6 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Cedar Rapids scored two in the ninth to win it.  Kala'i Rosario singled home the winning run.

Emmanuel Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.

Cory Lewis pitched five innings, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks and striking out two.
John Stankiewicz pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

MARAUDERS 9, MIGHTY MUSSELS 6 IN BRADENTON

Bradenton scored three in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead.

Yohander Martinez was 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs.
Ricardo Olivar was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs.
Danny De Andrade was 2-for-5.

Miguelangel Boadas pitched 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on two hits and four walks and striking out five.
Samuel Perez pitched two innings, giving up three unearned runs on a hit and a walk and striking out one.

TODAY'S TILTS

10:00  DSL Giants Black at DSL Twins
11:00  FCL Twins at FCL Pirates
5:30  Fort Myers (Jose Olivares, 2-3, 6.71) at Bradenton
6:35  Peoria at Cedar Rapids (C. J. Culpepper, 1-0, 0.00)
7:05  St. Paul (Brent Headrick, 3-1, 3.81) at Omaha
7:05  Wichita (David Festa, 2-2, 5.03) at Amarillo

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Anthony Cooper (1904)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20

2023 Game 97: Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners

Maeda
v
Castillo

The Twins scored five, ten, and again five runs versus the lowly A's. Nice signs for the batters but it's the A's. The Mariners' staff is actually better than average (4.2 runs/game versus average of 4.6 runs/game). So the Twins scoring six and then ten runs is nice to see. Tonight will be the real test of this series with Castillo and his 2.96 ERA / 3.92 FIP. He's really good.

Minor Details: Games of July 18

STORM CHASERS 1, SAINTS 0 IN OMAHA

C. J. Alexander singled home the run in the ninth.

St. Paul had only two hits.

Randy Dobnak pitched six shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out five.
Michael Boyle pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

SOD POODLES 10, WIND SURGE 7 IN AMARILLO

Deyvison De Los Santos hit a three-run homer in the third to give Amarillo a 7-4 lead.

Will Holland was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fourth), a triple, a walk, and two runs.
DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his twelfth) and two runs.
Yunior Severino was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.
Brooks Lee was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.
Alex Isola was 2-for-5 with a double.
Pat Winkel was 2-for-5 with a double.

Carlos Luna pitched four innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out five.
Francis Peguero pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

CHIEFS 4, KERNELS 1 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Leading 2-1, Jimmy Crooks hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Peoria.

Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a home run, his eleventh.  All the runs in the game scored on home runs.

Jaylin Nowlin struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits.
Matthew Swain pitched a perfect inning.

MARAUDERS 5, MIGHTY MUSSELS 2 IN BRADENTON

Lonnie White, Jr. hit a two-run homer in the sixth to give Bradenton a 3-2 lead.

Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-4.

Jack Noble pitched five innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out four.

FCL TWINS 4, FCL RAYS 2 AT TWINS

The Twins scored two in the third and two in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead.

Daniel Pena was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Isaac Pena was 2-for-4.

Zarion Sharpe pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Kyle Bischoff struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Eduardo Soriano pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three.
Yon Landaeta struck out four and walked three in 1.1 scoreless innings.

DSL GIANTS ORANGE 20, DSL TWINS 11 AT GIANTS

The Twins led 8-4 through four and a half and it was tied at ten through six and a half, but the Giants Orange scored seven in the seventh.

Moises Lopez was 4-for-5 with a home run (his third), a double, three runs, and four RBis.
Ricardo Pena was 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.
Ariel Castro was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his third) and a walk.
Carlos Silva was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Yency De Jesus pitched 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk and striking out five.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:00  Fort Myers (Miguelangel Boadas, 0-2, 6.91) at Bradenton
12:05  Peoria at Cedar Rapids (Cory Lewis, 3-0, 1.52)
7:05  St. Paul (Louie Varland, 3-0, 5.17) at Omaha
7:05  Wichita (Chad Donato, 1-0, 9.38) at Amarillo

July 19, 2023: Grifters

Not sure what the laws are like in MN, but here in IL, they allow for all sorts of these, I dunno, "gambling cafes"? It's basically a bar with a bunch of slot machines inside. They're in pretty much every strip mall (sometimes next to one another), and they all have women's names. Sabrina's, Dolly's, Sofia's, Daisy's, etc. The fact that they're so prolific makes me worry there's actually a market for them and they're successfully bleeding their clients dry.

Happy Birthday–July 19

Jim Donnelly (1865)
Earl Hamilton (1891)
Bob Meusel (1896)
Mark Koenig (1904)
Jackie Hayes (1906)
Phil Cavarretta (1916)
Billy Gardner (1927)
Jayson Stark (1951)
Dan Graham (1954)
Mark Carreon (1963)
David Segui (1966)
Gus Gandarillas (1971)
Preston Wilson (1974)
Yorvit Torrealba (1978)
Rick Ankiel (1979)
Yan Gomes (1987)
Luis Avilan (1989)
Patrick Corbin (1989)
Jermaine Palacios (1996)

Jayson Stark is a long-time baseball writer and was an ESPN commentator for several years.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 19