MINNESOTA TWINS 3, HOUSTON ASTROS IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, April 7, 2023.

Batting stars:  Jose Miranda was 3-for-5.  Michael Taylor was 2-for-4 with a double.  Donovan Solano was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Byron Buxton was 2-for-5.  Kyle Farmer was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Sonny Gray struck out thirteen in seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk.  Griffin Jax pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Jhoan Duran struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Mauricio Dubon was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jose Urquidy struck out six in 5.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk.

The game:  Houston opened the scoring in the third inning, as Dubon opened the inning with a double and scored on a two-out single by Alex Bregman.  The Twins missed several opportunities to tie it or even take the lead.  In the third, two-out singles by Taylor and Buxton did not produce a run.  In the fourth, Miranda and Solano hit one-out singles and Joey Gallo walked with two out to load the bases, but a popup ended the inning.  In the fifth, Taylor’s leadoff double led nowhere.

The Twins finally tied it in the sixth.  With one out, Solano and Farmer singled.  A force out put runners on the corners with two down, and a wild pitch made the score 1-1.  Neither team moved a man past first base in innings seven through nine, so we went to an extra inning.

David Hensley was the Manfred Man for the Astros, and he scored on a one-out single by Dubon to put Houston ahead 2-1.  In the bottom of the inning, though, Buxton began the inning on second.  A one-out wild pitch advanced him to third.  Trevor Larnach walked and Miranda singled to tie the score.  Another wild pitch put men on second and third and led to an intentional walk to Solano.  Farmer then singled to bring home the deciding run.

WP:  Jorge Lopez (1-0).

LP:  Ryne Stanek (1-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Kyle Farmer was at second base.  Edouard Julien had the most appearances at second, and then came Jorge Polanco.  Jose Miranda was at third base.  Royce Lewis had the most games at third, followed by Farmer and Willi Castro.  Trevor Larnach was in left.  Castro had the most games in left, followed by Joey Gallo.  Gallo was in right in place of Max Kepler, who is one of the few people who could be considered a “regular” in 2023.

Byron Buxton was batting .360.  He would finish at .207.  Trevor Larnach was batting .333.  He would finish at .213.  Donovan Solano was batting .308.  He would finish at .282.  Royce Lewis would be the Twins’ lone .300 hitter at .309.

Sonny Gray had an ERA of 0.75.  He would finish at 2.79.  Jhoan Duran and Jorge Lopez each had an ERA of 0.00.  They would finish at 2.45 and 5.09, respectively.

Ryan Pressly came in to strike out the side in the ninth.  He had pitched for the Twins from 2013-2018 before being traded for Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino.

As you may have guessed the Twins stranded a lot of runners, although it did not hurt them in the end.  They stranded twelve men and went 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.  They out-hit Houston 11-5.

The notes section is pretty light today, but there’s not a lot to say about these teams that you don’t know.

Record:  Houston was 3-5, tied for third with Seattle in the AL West, 1.5 games behind Los Angeles and Texas.  They would finish 90-72, tied for first with Texas.

Minnesota was 5-2, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 87-75, in first place, nine games ahead of Detroit.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 20-13 (.606).