Jim Whitney (1857)
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Tag Archives: Matt Magill
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
2019 Recap: Game Seventy-seven
KANSAS CITY 6, MINNESOTA 1 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Sunday, June 23.
Batting stars: Luis Arraez was 4-for-4 with a double. Max Kepler was 2-for-5 with a double. Jorge Polanco was 2-for-5. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twentieth.
Pitching stars: Zack Littell pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Matt Magill pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Homer Bailey pitched 5.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out five. Billy Hamilton was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, his fifteenth and sixteenth. Hunter Dozier was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twelfth) and a double. Alex Gordon was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Whit Merrifield was 2-for-4. Kevin McCarthy pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.
The game: It was basically decided in the third inning. With one out, singles by Hamilton and Merrifield put men on first and third. Nicky Lopez' bunt single scored the first run, Gordon doubled home a second, and Dozier hit a three-run homer. That quickly, the Royals were ahead 5-0 and they would stay ahead the rest of the game.
Rosario got the Twins on the board leading off the fourth. Arraez had a one-out double and Miguel Sano walked, but Jason Castro was caught looking and Jake Cave grounded out, so the score stayed 5-1. Facing some mediocre Kansas City pitchers, the Twins only got one other threat going. That came in the seventh, when Cave was hit by a pitch, Polanco had a two-out infield single, and Nelson Cruz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rosario hit into a force out, however, and the Twins would not threaten again. Gordon's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh completed the scoring.
WP: Bailey (7-6). LP: Michael Pineda (4-4). S: McCarthy (1).
Notes: Arraez was at second base in place of Jonathan Schoop. Kepler remained in center, with Cave in right and Byron Buxton still on the IL.
Arraez is batting .436. Polanco is batting .326. Mike Morin gave up a run in one inning and now has an ERA of 2.08.
Pineda had been pitching fairly well lately, by his standards. He pitched well in this game if you take out the third inning, which unfortunately you can't.
The Twins had nine hits, a walk, and two hit batsmen, but could score just one run. The hits were concentrated in a very few players. As you can see above, Arraez had four of them. The top two men in the Twins order, Kepler and Polanco, went 4-for-10. The three through five batters were 1-for-12, with Rosario's solo homer being the lone hit. The bottom three batters were 0-for-10. That led to eleven men being left on base.
The Twins are 5-5 over their last ten games. A year ago, we'd have looked at that as a hopeful sign, thinking that maybe the Twins were starting to build on something. This year, we're all disappointed and wondering what the Twins will do to right the ship. One thing I've noticed abut Rocco, though, is that he does not get into panic mode easily. He has faith in his players and has faith in his own decision-making ability. If he believes he has a good reason for doing something, he's not going to change his mind just because it doesn't work right away. That's a good thing, I think, as long as you don't carry it too far. It's possible for that attitude to become stubbornness, where you insist on doing things your way despite evidence that your way doesn't work. I've not noticed that in Rocco, but he's only been a manager for half a season, so I guess time will tell.
The Twins signed Cody Allen to a minor league contract the other day. He was a really good relief pitcher until a couple of years ago, when he suddenly wasn't any more. It's a low-risk move that really can only hurt you if you allow it to. What I mean is that it can hurt you if you allow him to take playing time from a more deserving player, or if you convince yourself that you don't need to do anything else, or if you bring him to the majors even though he hasn't proven he belongs there, just because of who he is. I have confidence in the current front office that they won't let those things happen. And who knows? Maybe the Twins can help him get back to being a useful reliever again. The Twins could certainly use one of those.
Record: The Twins are 50-27, first in the American League Central, eight games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We'll just have to settle for 135-27!
2019 Recap: Game Seventy-two
MINNESOTA 4, BOSTON 3 IN MINNESOTA (17 INNINGS)
Date: Tuesday, June 18.
Batting stars: Eddie Rosario was 4-for-8 with three doubles. Max Kepler was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eighteenth) and three RBIs. C. J. Cron was 2-for-5 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-7.
Pitching stars: Michael Pineda pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk and striking out five. Trevor May pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one. Taylor Rogers struck out two in a perfect inning. Tyler Duffey struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Blake Parker pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one. Matt Magill struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk. Zack Littell struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: Brock Holt was 3-for-7 with a double. Rafael Devers was 3-for-8 with a home run (his twelfth) and two RBIs. Andrew Benintendi was 3-for-8 with a stolen base, his eighth. Jackie Bradley was 2-for-5 with a hit-by-pitch. Christian Vazquez was 2-for-7. Xander Bogaerts was 2-for-8 with a double. David Price pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out two. Josh Taylor struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Hector Velazquez pitched four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out three.
The game: The Red Sox got on the board in the fourth inning when Mookie Betts walked, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Devers. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when Rosario hit a two-out double and scored on a Cron single.
The Twins should have taken the lead in the sixth. Mitch Garver led off with a double and Nelson Cruz singled him to third with none out. But Garver was picked off third by the catcher and Rosario fouled out. The Twins still had a chance, as Cron was hit by a pitch and Kepler walked to load the bases, but Miguel Sano fanned to end the inning. The Red Sox immediately made them pay, as Devers led off the seventh with a home run to give Boston a 2-1 lead.
The Twins tied it up in the eighth. Walks to Garver and Cron put men on first and second with two out and Kepler delivered an RBI single to make the score 2-2. It stayed there for a while. Boston threatened in the tenth and twelfth and the Twins also threatened in the twelfth, but there was no more scoring until the thirteenth, when Betts led off with a home run. But Kepler led off with a home run in the bottom of the thirteenth to once again tie the score, and the teams played on.
The Red Sox again threatened in the fourteenth, getting leadoff singles from Holt and MIchael Chavis. A bunt (!) moved them to second and third, but nothing came of it. In the fifteenth Rosario led off with a double but was doubled off second on Cron's liner. In the top of the seventeenth, Benintendi singled and got to third on a stolen base-plus-error with none out, but a strikeout and two ground outs ended the inning without a score.
Finally came the bottom of the seventeenth. Luis Arraez had a one-out single and went to third on Rosario's double. Cron was intentionally walked, and Kepler again came through with an RBI single to win the game for the Twins.
WP: Littell (1-0). LP: Brian Johnson (1-1). S: None.
Notes: Marwin Gonzalez was again in right field, with Kepler starting the game on the bench. Jake Cave was in center field.
Arraez entered the game as a pinch-runner in the twelfth and went 1-for-2. He is batting .385. Jorge Polanco was 1-for-8 and is batting .326. Garver was 1-for-7 and is batting .301.
Ryne Harper gave up a run in an inning and has an ERA of 2.17. Rogers has an ERA of 2.03. Duffey has an ERA of 2.08. Mike Morin gave up a run in an inning and has an ERA of 1.65.
Garver was rightly criticized for getting picked off in the sixth. I also wonder why he did not dive back into the base, rather than going in standing up. But additionally, I wonder what the third base coach was doing. With a shift on and the third baseman playing well off the bag, this was obviously a planned play. It seems like the third base coach should be watching for that and make sure the runner is aware of it. Instead, it appeared that he became a spectator.
Watching part of the game last night, it seems to me that several Twins batters (not just Sano) have gotten a little homer-happy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against home runs and I'm not calling for a return of the piranhas. But I saw several batters trying to jerk every pitch out of the park in situations where a single would've served us quite admirably. This may be something that the batting coach needs to address.
Lost in the long game is the fact that Pineda had his second good start in a row. Over those starts, he has pitched 11.2 innings and given up two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out nine. He only threw eighty pitches last night, so it seems like he could've gone a seventh inning. Perhaps the Twins are still trying to be careful with him. But he hasn't had a really bad game in a month and a half and his ERA has fallen steadily from a peak of 6.21 to 4.76. I'm not nominating him for the Cy Young Award, but he's kept us in the game for eight starts in a row, and has done more than that in his last two.
The much maligned (and properly so) Twins bullpen pitched eleven innings and gave up just two runs. Further, both the runs came on solo homers, and we all know those don't hurt you. I won't be surprised if we bring up a "fresh arm for the bullpen", but only three of the eight relievers used threw more than eighteen pitches, so I assume most of them could pitch again tonight if needed.
Each team completely emptied its bullpen, using eight relief pitchers. Presumably, once the last guy came in he was in for the duration, unless the game had gone twenty-four innings or something. At that point, the teams would've had to decide whether to use a starting pitcher in relief or use a position player. That would've been interesting, but I'm fine with winning in the seventeenth instead.
It should be noted, as I'm sure it was numerous times during the game, that the Twins still have not lost three games in a row this season.
Record: The Twins are 48-24, first in the American League Central, ten games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 138-24!
2019 Recap: Game Seventy
KANSAS CITY 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, June 16.
Batting stars: Max Kepler was 4-for-6 with two doubles and two RBIs. Jonathan Schoop was 3-for-5. Miguel Sano was 2-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and a walk. Nelson Cruz was 2-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth), a double, and three RBIs. Eddie Rosario was 2-for-5. Jorge Polanco was 1-for-4 with two walks.
Pitching star: Matt Magill pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Martin Maldonado was 3-for-4 with a double, scoring twice and driving in two. Jorge Bonifacio was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
The game: The Twins got a pair of runners on in the bottom of the first but did not score. This would be a theme. In the second, the Royals put together a walk and four singles to score three runs and take a 3-0 lead.
Martin Perez settled down after that, and the Twins got back in the game with two in the fourth. Sano led off with a home run, Marwin Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, and singles by Schoop and Kepler cut the lead to 3-2. Polanco was intentionally walked to load the bases with two out, but Nelson Cruz struck out to strand the runners.
In the seventh, two singles, a bunt, and an error plated to Kansas City runs to make it 5-2. Cruz homered in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-3. Three singles loaded the bases with one out, but Schoop struck out and Mitch Garver flied out to strand the runners. The Royals extended their lead in the eighth on an error, RBI doubles by Bonifacio and Maldonado, and a run-scoring single by Billy Hamilton. It was 8-3 and it looked like the game was gone.
To the Twins' credit, they came back to make a game of it. In the bottom of the eighth, a walk to Ehire Adrianza and singles by Kepler and Polanco again loaded the bases, this time with none out. Cruz doubled home two to make it 8-5, but the Twins could do no more. In the ninth, Schoop singled, Kepler had an RBI double, and Polanco walked to bring the winning run to the plate, but Cruz struck out to end the game.
WP: Jorge Lopez (1-6). LP: Perez (7-3). S: Ian Kennedy (7).
Notes: Gonzalez was in right field, with Kepler in center and Byron Buxton still resting a bruised wrist. Adrianza was at first base with C. J. Cron on the bench.
Polanco is batting .332. Garver, who came in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, was 0-for-2 and is batting .310. Mike Morin allowed three runs in 1.1 innings, but the runs were all unearned, so his ERA is down to 1.17.
The Twins stranded fifteen men and went 4-for-18 with men in scoring position. The good news is that they had fifteen hits, five walks, and a hit batsman, giving them twenty-one baserunners. It was a frustrating game, no question, but it happens once in a while. If they keep getting twenty-one baserunners a game, I think they'll be okay.
All the runs against Morin were unearned, but you can't argue that he pitched well. After the error, which put a man on first with one out, there was an RBI double, a fly out, another RBI double, a run-scoring single, and a walk before the third out was recorded. It seemed odd that Morin remained in the game that long. I wonder if Rocco thought the game was gone at that point and didn't want to burn another reliever. That's mere speculation on my part, but it's hard to think Morin would've pitched that long if the manager thought the game was on the line.
In regard to the game-ending checked swing, I really thought that was a call that could've gone either way, and it didn't go the Twins' way. But Cruz had stood there and watched two good strikes, then started to swing at a pitch well out of the strike zone. I don't think he or the Twins have much complaint coming on that.
On the one hand, it was a frustrating game to lose. On the other hand, I didn't think the Twins played all that well in the whole series. Maybe it was the hubbub over Joe Mauer weekend, maybe they're getting a little bit tired, maybe they just find it hard to get up for a series against Kansas City. It just seemed to me that the team was a little bit off all weekend, and they were fortunate to win two out of three. But maybe that's the mark of a good team, too--to be able to win even when you're a little bit off.
Record: The Twins are 47-23, first in the American League Central, ten games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We'll just have to settle for 139-23!
2019 Recap: Game Sixty-five
MINNESOTA 6, SEATTLE 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, June 11.
Batting stars: Jorge Polanco was 3-for-3 with two doubles. Jonathan Schoop was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twelfth. Jason Castro was 1-for-3 with a home run, his eighth.
Pitching stars: Tyler Duffey pitched a perfect inning and struck out one. Matt Magill pitched a perfect inning and struck out one. Trevor May pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Domingo Santana was 3-for-5 with two runs. Mallex Smith was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Kyle Seager was 2-for-5. Edwin Encarnacion was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his twenty-first) and two walks. Mike Leake pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks and striking out six.
The game: The Mariners put together a pair of two-out singles and Encarnacion hit a three-run homer in the third to give Seattle a 3-0 lead. The Twins tied it in the fourth. Eddie Rosario led off the inning with a double, and with two out Schoop and Castro hit back-to-back homers, tying the score at 3-3.
The Mariners got the lead back in the fifth. A pair of walks preceded an RBI single by Dan Vogelbach to make it 4-3. Seager's run-scoring single in the seventh increased the lead to 5-3.
The Twins took their only lead, but the only lead they would need, in the eighth. Max Kepler and Polanco led off the inning with back-to-back doubles to cut the lead to 5-4. Nelson Cruz walked, a fly out put men on first and third, and a wild pitch tied the score 5-5. With two out, Marwin Gonzalez delivered a single that scored Cruz and put the Twins up 6-5. All they needed to do was retire Seattle in the ninth to win the game.
And they did, but it wasn't easy. Smith and Santana led off the inning with singles, putting men on first and second with Encarnacion at bat. But he was caught looking at a third strike (the game log indicates it may not have been a correct call by the umpire), Vogelbach popped up, and Seager hit a fly to left. Victory was ours.
WP: Magill (2-0). LP: Brandon Brennan (2-5). S: May (1).
Notes: Gonzalez was at first base, replacing C. J. Cron.
Polanco raised his average to .341. Duffey has an ERA of 2.41. Ryne Harper pitched one inning and gave up one run, making his ERA 2.03.
I don't really understand why Duffey was not allowed to go more than one inning. Not that going to Harper is a dumb move or anything, but it means the Twins used four relief pitchers last night when they could perhaps have gotten by with three or even two. I still don't really understand how Rocco makes his bullpen decisions. I don't mean that as critically as it might sound--I'm sure he has reasons for what he does, and he's not obligated to explain them to me. And I actually like that he seems to be responding to specific situations rather than just reflexively going to "the ninth inning guy" or "the eighth inning guy". Also, I have to say that for the most part, whatever he's doing seems to be working. The Twins have bullpen problems, but I think Rocco has made the best of the situation so far.
Martin Perez appears to have regressed to the mean. Over his last six starts, he has an ERA of 5.59, not far off his ERA of 6.22 last season. I don't know how to calculate FIP, but the eye test tells me he has not been particularly unlucky. His first few starts as a Twin are looking more and more like a mirage. If he really was doing something different, as the media kept telling us, it looks like it didn't take long for the league to figure out what it was. He'll probably keep getting starts, though, because the Twins have nothing in AAA to replace him with other than possibly Devin Smeltzer, and there's certainly no guarantee that Smeltzer would be better. I assume Falvey and Levine are looking for help, just as I assume they're looking for bullpen help I have no idea what might be available or at what cost. But the Twins need better pitching if they're going to make a deep playoff run.
It's funny--all during the game last night I kept believing that the Twins were going to come back and take the lead. Whether they could keep the lead was another question, but when they were down 3-0, when they were down 4-3, when they were down 5-3, I was convinced that the offense would rally. It's nice to be able to have that kind of confidence in the team you root for.
Record: The Twins are 44-21, first in the American League Central, 10.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 141-21!
2019 Recap: Game Fifty-four
MINNESOTA 5, MILWAUKEE 3 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Tuesday, May 28.
Batting stars: Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventeenth.
Pitching stars: Devin Smeltzer struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks. Matt Magill pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Zach Davies pitched six shutout innings, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out four. Yasmani Grandal was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eleventh) and a triple. Ryan Braun was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Keston Hiura was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.
The game: Each team wasted a leadoff extra-base hit in the second, as Grandal tripled leading off the top of the inning and Sano doubled to start the bottom half. The Twins put two on with one out in the third on singles by Astudillo and Polanco. Braun doubled to lead off the fourth and again to lead off the seventh. Still, the game remained scoreless through six and a half.
In the bottom of the seventh, Castro led off with a single and a fielder's cholce-plus-error put men on second and third with none out. Max Kepler delivered a two-run double to put the Twins on the board. With one out, C. J. Cron doubled in a run and Rosario hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 5-0 and seemingly in control of the game.
"Seemingly" because the Brewers came right back in the eighth. Hernan Perez led off with a single and Hiura hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 5-2. Grandal led of the ninth with a home run to make it 5-3. That was it, though, as two relievers retired the next three batters to end the game without the tying run coming to bat.
WP: Magill (1-0). LP: Alex Claudio (0-1). S: Ryne Harper (1).
Notes: Cron was the DH in this game, with Marwin Gonzalez at first base. Byron Buxton was injured in the second inning trying to catch Grandal's triple, which resulted in multiple position changes. Kepler moved from right to center, Rosario moved from left to right. Gonzalez moved from first to left, and Willians Astudillo entered the game at first base. In the seventh, Jason Castro came out of the game for pinch-runner Ehire Adrianza, which led to Astudillo going behind the plate and Adrianza taking over first base.
Polanco is now batting .335. Smeltzer has an ERA of zero. Magill has an ERA of 1.42. Blake Parker gave up two runs on three hits in an inning and has an ERA of 1.96. Taylor Rogers gave up a run on one hit in two-thirds of an inning and has an ERA of 2.38. Harper retired the only man he faced and has an ERA of 1.61.
Buxton does not appear to be seriously injured, and in fact wanted to stay in the game. Reports this morning are that he has a bruised right knee. You can't fault the Twins for being careful with him. Today's off day will help, but he might well sit out a day or two. Fortunately, it does not appear that it will be any more than that.
I don't think you can say enough about how well Smeltzer pitched. Six shutout innings. Seven strikeouts. Three hits. No walks. From a guy who had made all of four starts above AA. What impressed me most--other than his stat line--is that he wasn't afraid to throw the ball over the plate. He's never walked many guys--his walks per nine in the minors is 2.0--but still, a guy with this little experience is likely to be nervous and start nibbling. It didn't happen. Even after someone hit the ball hard, he came right back and threw strikes to the next batter. Each time he gave up a hit, he came back to strike out the next batter. I don't fault Rocco for taking the six innings and getting him out of there, but he threw only 69 pitches in six innings, 53 of them strikes. He retired the last eight batters he faced. There's no obvious reason he couldn't have pitched seven or even eight innings.
I would not have pulled Rogers with two out in the ninth. Yes, Perez had doubled off him the night before, but that doesn't convince me that Rogers couldn't have gotten him out last night. I'll say this for Rocco, though--for all the talk about him being The Millenial Manager, he's shown he really couldn't care less about helping any individual's stat line. He pulled Rogers when he was one out away from a save. He pulled Jose Berrios in the fifth inning with a big lead, rather than leave him in to try to get the win. And you remember that he pulled Jake Odorizzi in the first inning when he had given up just two runs at the time he was taken out. You can agree or disagree with those individual moves, but the point is that Rocco has on several occasions sent a message that he doesn't care about your feelings or your stat line. He's not concerned with who gets the W or the S. He's concerned that the team gets the W, and he's going to do what he thinks is most likely to make that happen. It seems to me that's a pretty good message to send.
I have nothing to say about this that hasn't already been said, but I feel like the recap would not be complete if I did not point out that we are now exactly one-third of the way through the season, the Twins are twenty games over .500, and they have a ten game lead in the division standings.
Record: The Twins are 37-17, first in the American League Central, ten games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 145-17!
2019 Recap: Game Forty-eight
MINNESOTA 8, LOS ANGELES 3 IN LOS ANGELES
Date: Tuesday, May 21.
Batting stars: Luis Arraez was 2-for-4 with a home run. Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two. Max Kepler was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice. Marwin Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth) and a double, scoring twice and driving in three. Eddie Rosario was 2-for-5 with two RBIs,
Pitching stars: Michael Pineda pitched six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks and striking out three. Matt Magill struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Mike Morin pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: David Fletcher was 3-for-3 with a walk. Mike Trout was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh) and a walk. Trevor Cahill struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.
The game: Trout homered with one out in the first inning to get the Angels up 1-0. In the second, with two out and none on, Brian Goodwin walked, Luis Rengifo singled, Fletcher had an RBI single, and a wild pitch scored another run putting Los Angeles up 3-0. Meanwhile, the Twins did not get a hit until the fifth inning and did not get a man past first base in that time. It was not looking good.
No worries. Kepler led off the sixth with a double, leading the Angels to remove starter Cahill. Polanco followed with an RBI double and Gonzalez hit a two-run homer, tying the score at 3-3. The Twins took control in the seventh. Jason Castro was hit by a pitch and was on first base with two out. Kepler then singled, Polanco had an RBI single, Gonzalez hit a run-scoring double, and Rosario delivered a two-run single, leaving the Twins ahead 7-3. Arraez added a home run leading off the eighth.
Meanwhile, Twins starter Pineda had really settled down, allowing only one hit after the second inning. Four relievers held Los Angeles at bay over the last three innings--their only threat was in the ninth, when they put men on first and second with two out, and nothing came of it.
WP: Pineda (4-3). LP: Luke Bard (1-2). S: None.
Notes: Gonzalez was the DH in this game, with Arraez manning third base and Miguel Sano on the bench. Jason Castro caught back-to-back games, which I believe is only the fourth time all season he has done that.
Arraez is batting .583. Polanco is batting .339. Magill has an ERA of 1.80. Taylor Rogers retired the only man he faced and has an ERA of 1.33. Morin has an ERA of 1.13.
Pineda really pulled himself together after the second inning. In the second, he looked like he was all over the place and had very little command. I went to bed soon after that and assumed he would not be in the game much longer. Instead, he pitched very well from innings four through six. That makes four starts in a row in which he has pitched competently. None of them has been outstanding--he's given up three runs in each and his highest game score is sixty-one--but he's pitching about as well as you expect a fifth starter to pitch. There's a chance he may still improve, but if he can just stay where he is he's helping.
I said that if Arraez is going to be here he should play, and he has been, so good job Rocco Baldelli. Of course, the fact that he's gone 7-for-12 with a home run, a double, and two walks makes it a lot easier to play him. He won't keep that up, of course--that would be a record--but he's certainly off to a good start.
I assume it was mentioned during the broadcast, or maybe some of you even remember, but Bard is a former Twin. He was in their system from 2012-2018, reaching Rochester in 2017. He was chosen by the Angels in the rule 5 draft before the 2018 season but was returned to the Twins in late April. He became a minor league free agent after the season and signed with the Angels. He had been pitching well for them, but obviously did not do so last night.
Who'd have thought that with about thirty percent of the season gone, the Twins would be winning two-thirds of their games?
Record: The Twins are 32-16, first in the American League Central, 6.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 146-16!