Kohl Stewart makes his 2019 debut trying to win the rubber game of the series. He brings a 6.00 ERA from Rochester, most it it from his previous start. He surrendered six runs over 4.1 innings.
Verlander meanwhile is lossless and continuing his late career resurgence into 2019. After a promising start to the series, I'm feeling less confident about winning it now. But now is as good a time as any to break that lack of losing streak!
Date: Tuesday, April 23.
Batting stars: Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his tenth.
Pitching star: Ryne Harper retired both batters he faced.
Opposition stars: Tyler White was 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs. George Springer was 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in two. Carlos Correa was 2-for-4 with a double. Josh Reddick was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Jose Altuve was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his ninth) and a walk. Wade Miley struck out seven in six innings, giving up three runs on three hits and a walk.
The game: It looked good early. Mitch Garver led off the game with a single, Nelson Cruz drew a one-out walk, and Rosario followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0. The Astros got on the board in the third, as White walked, Max Stassi singled, and Springer had an RBI single, but a double play got the inning back under control and the Twins still led 3-1. It was just a temporary reprieve, however. In the fifth, Reddick doubled and White singled, putting men on first and third with none out. Stassi flied out, but Springer had a run-scoring double and Alex Bregman delivered a two-out two-run single to put Houston ahead 4-3.
Meanwhile, the Twins had not had a baserunner since Schoop led off the second with a double. They hit some balls hard--it's not like there were helpless up there--but still, Miley closed out his evening with fifteen consecutive batters retired. Hector Rondon came in to start the seventh and retired the first two men he faced. Then, however, Schoop doubled and Max Kepler came through with a single to tie the score 4-4. The Twins got men to second and third with two out, but Garver's fly to deep left ended the inning.
And then things fell apart. Trevor Hildenberger came in to start the seventh. A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out. Bregman's sacrifice fly gave the Astros a 5-4 lead. Adalberto Mejia came in to give up a run-scoring single to Michael Brantley, making the score 6-4.
It didn't get better in the eighth. Tyler Duffey had come on to get the last out of the seventh and remained in the game. An error and a single put men on first and third, and another error scored a run. A passed ball put men on second and third, still with none out. Stassi and Springer struck out, giving hope that the Twins might at least have a small chance to come back in the ninth. That hope was dashed as Altuve hit a three-run homer to put the game out of reach at 10-4. The Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Rondon (2-0). LP: Hildenberger (2-1). S: None.
Notes: With a lefty starting for Houston, Garver was moved to the leadoff spot, with Max Kepler batting eighth.
Garver was 1-for-4 and is batting .405. Jorge Polanco was 0-for-4 and is batting .372. Harper lowered his ERA to 2.70. Hildenberger was charged with two runs on one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning, but his ERA is still 2.16. All four runs off Duffey in 1.1 innings were unearned, so his ERA drops to 1.69.
Rosario's homer made him the first Twin to ever reach ten homers before May 1. Of course, back in the day, the season didn't start until the middle of April. Still, it's an achievement, and he deserves credit for it.
I feel like the Twins' bullpen has done fairly well overall, but when it goes south it seems to go clear to Antarctica. Last night the relief pitchers combined to allow six runs in 2.2 innings. Four of the runs were unearned, but that's still not good. They walked three in that span, which obviously contributed to the troubles, especially in the seventh inning.
Twins batters did not have a lot of luck last night. The play-by-play at b-r.com indicates five deep fly balls for outs, plus one line drive out. That's not to say that the Twins deserved to win, but had just a couple of those hard-hit balls been hits, things might have gone differently.
It sounds like Kohl Stewart is coming up to make the start tonight against Justin Verlander. That does not seem like a favorable matchup for the Twins, to put it mildly. Still, it's baseball. One never knows what might happen.
Record: The Twins are 13-8, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland and Detroit.
Projected record: We'll just have to settle for 154-8!
(3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)
Loading... Twins up against the Astros again after a nice mashing last night. Michael Pineda up for the Twins and he has done as well as expected through four games with a 2-1 record and almost a SO per inning. Also at 6’7”, 265 lbs, I wonder if he had been born in the United States if Pineda would have played football or basketball, the dude is huge. Wade Miley on the mound for the Astros and if you’ve been forgoing anything in a Lent-like fashion until the Twins faced a lefty starter, well today is the day you can finally partake. Congratulations on getting this far with that. Miley has been serviceable but doesn’t throw a ton of strikeouts. He has held opponents to 3 earned runs or less for 20 straight starts, so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.
Important game for the Twins to win as Verlander up for the ‘Stros tomorrow. Be nice to get a win tonight and not have to worry about Wednesday’s game. First pitch at 7:10p.
Twins Line Up:
C Garver
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
RF Kepler
CF Buxton
I'm going to be the annoying DJ who submits a song with no video. But there's no music video of this song out there, live or otherwise. Spider Robinson is a science fiction writer (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon) and a folk singer. I can assert I have never been as drunk as the guy in this song.
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading... Date: Monday, April 22.
Batting stars: Jorge Polanco was 4-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and a double, scoring twice and driving in four. Nelson Cruz was 2-for-5. Jason Castro was 1-for-2 with a home run and two walks, scoring twice.
Pitching stars: Jake Odorizzi pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out two. Adalberto Mejia pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one. Blake Parker pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Josh Reddick was 3-for-4. Tyler White was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks. Michael Brantley was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and two runs. Carlos Correa was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his fourth.
The game: The Twins took the lead in the first inning, as two-out singles by Cruz and Eddie Rosario and a two-run double by C. J. Cron gave them a 2-0 lead. Castro led off the second with a home run, making the score 3-0. It stayed 3-0 until the fourth, when Brantley led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Reddick's single to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Twins seemed to take control of the game in the sixth. Jonathan Schoop doubled and Castro walked. With two out, Max Kepler singled, Polanco had a single-plus-error, and Cruz singled. Four runs scored, putting the Twins up 7-1. Brantley led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer, making the score 7-2, but the Twins still seemed to have the game well in hand.
In the seventh, however, George Springer led off with an infield single and Alex Bregman drew a one-out walk. Brantley lined out, but Correa hit a three-run homer, making the score 7-5 and putting the Astros right back into the game.
In the eighth, Polanco took them right back out of it. With two out and none on, Kepler walked and Polanco hit a two-run homer, making the score 9-5. Houston did not get a man past first base after that and the victory was secured.
WP: Odorizzi (2-2). LP: Brad Peacock (1-2). S: None.
Notes: Polanco is batting .392. Cruz is batting .315. Parker has an ERA of 1.23. Harper gave up his first earned runs of the season and is has an ERA of 2.89.
Byron Buxton was caught stealing. If I'm reading it right it's the first time he's truly been "caught stealing" in his career, in the sense of the catcher gunning him down rather than oversliding the bag. I guess it had to come sometime.
Harper giving up runs had to come sometime, too. Has his bubble burst, or was this just a blip? Time will tell, but I'm hopeful. It looks like the home run was the only ball hit hard off him. And as great as his story has been, it wasn't realistic to think he was going to pitch all season with an ERA of zero. I guess we'll see.
It was mentioned in the game log that perhaps Rocco is relying too heavily on Rogers and Hildenberger. I don't think I agree. Rogers has appeared in ten games and pitched 11.2 innings. Hildenberger has appeared in eleven games and pitched 7.2 innings. Given the number of off-days we've had, that doesn't seem like too much to me. They've each pitched on consecutive days three times and never on three consecutive days. I actually think Rocco has done a pretty good job of using his whole bullpen, including using Mejia in the eighth inning last night. It's something to keep an eye on as the season progresses, but I really don't have a problem with it so far.
Someone said in the game log that, going into this series, they were simply hoping the Twins would take one of three. I was pretty much in that same place. Now, of course, we hope they will take at least two, if not more. We'll see.
Record: The Twins are 13-7, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 155-7!
The first place Twins come into Houston to play the second place Astros. Odoreater is coming off a decent start against the Blue Jays and has a decent career line against the `Stros. Will he nibble himself to death against a tough lineup? We will see.
The Twins did not have a fun visit to the Space City last year, getting swept and outscored 18-4. Let's hope their rejiggered lineup will have better results.
One last bit of randomness: after a truly half-baked search, I can't find what Peacock's middle name is. Only a middle initial of "J".
Continue reading 2019 Game 20: Minnesota Twins vs. Houston Astros
I don't have a theme for this week as guest DJ. Probably some light, easy listening songs.
(5 votes, average: 7.40 out of 10)Loading... First Pitch - 12:05 CDT
This has been one of those rare and eventful spring weekends when Passover, Easter, my birthday and unofficial weed day all align on the calendar. On top of that, we enjoyed our first day of the year above 70 degrees here in the Twins Cities, reaching a sunny 78 above zero yesterday. What's more, after a Friday rain-out the Twins won both ends of a Saturday double header against Baltimore, the first in a 6-5 squeaker that saw Jose Berrios pick up his third W of the season despite not having his best stuff, and the second a 16-7 laugher in which the Twins tied a team record for most home runs in a game*. All in all, the twin bill was as sweet, savory and satisfying as a big platter of Boog's barbecue. The end of the night witnessed the Twins perched atop the AL Central and the Orioles inhabiting a blogger's abode in the basement of the AL East.
Today's tilt features two northpaws on the mound as the Twins look to complete a sweep of the rather hapless Orioles, sending Kyle Gibson to the dirt pile for his fourth start and in search of his first decision of the season. After an impressive campaign last year (10-13, 3.62 ERA, 3.8 WAR) that saw him consistently attack the strike zone and challenge hitters, Gibson seems to have reverted to his nibbling ways. To be fair, I thought he got a bit squeezed by a tight strike zone in his last start, but he also failed to adjust to the indented corners the umpire established right off the bat. Nobody doubts that Gibson has major league stuff at this point, but to my view he needs to take a lesson from a hurling Gibson of yore, wrinkle his brow, fix a steely glare in his eye, throw the living fire out of the ball and work hitters hard inside with far more frequency. Baltimore sends Dylan Bundy to the hill today. In four previous starts he's compiled a record of no wins and two losses and a robust 7.79 ERA, but he has notched 22 strikeouts. So break out the brooms and let's git 'er done, boys. Play ball!
* A preponderance of early-season dingers has many observers of the game speculating that Rawlings is once again manufacturing baseballs with a tad more juice in them this year.
The Twins are coming off losing a fairly disappointing series against a very beatable Blue Jays team. Every game felt winnable, but they were only able to seal the deal once.
THANKFULLY, the Orioles seem as beatable, if not more so.
Let's see if Polanco can't continue his crazy run, and if they can't bring out the brooms for a doubleheader sweep today. Continue reading 2016 Games 17 & 18: Twins @ Orioles – Let’s play two!
