Today we get two games as the Twins and Tigers are in the middle of a rare 5 game series. Due to Covid, doubleheaders, etc., I am guessing some pretty interesting line ups for both games.
Game 1: First pitch at 12:10 Darren Smeltzer against Rony Garcia
Game 2: First Pitch at 6:10 Cole Sands against Joey Wentz.
Day game alert, naturally. Hope everyone is enjoying the day.
Royce Lewis already seeing some action in CF!
The Twins keep rolling as they lay waste to the dregs of the AL Central. Good on them, beating the bad teams leads to Division titles my grandpappy used to say. More importantly, this Twins teams is fun! They win in dramatic fashion, they are fundamentally sound, they have great characters. Byron Buxton over the weekend and Max Kepler last night both mentioned how much better the locker room is this year compared to last -- which most are taking as a jab at Donaldson (and probably Simmons). I wasn't in the locker room this year or last so I'll take their word for it.
Beau Briske for the Tigers and he has a stat line you would expect for a team playing at a .333 level. His last outing included 6 runs in 5.1 innings so not great. Sonny Gray for the Twins and he's been a good veteran presence for this team. After a slow start, he's really pitched well lately, although lots of run support (14 and 12 runs his last two games) will do wonders for your performance.
Game time at 6:40. Looks like a nice night for baseball.
Twins Lineup
CF - Buxton
2B - Arraez
SS - Correa
DH - Sanchez
RF - Kepler
LF - Celestino
3B - Urshela
1B - Miranda
C - Jeffers
We’re in first. By a small chunk actually. It’s the Central, but whatever, let’s keep going with the schtick.
3 on the board before Smeltzer takes the bump
Twins continue to beat up on the bad and ok teams, which is what a team needs to do in order be eligible for the playoffs. Hopefully the trend continues as the Twins head to game two against the 15-23 Oakland A's.
Dylan Bundy on the mound and he's fallen back to earth after winning his first three starts of the season (albeit with lots of run support). Last start was atrocious with Bundy giving up 9 earned runs in 3.2 innings to the Orioles. Yuck! James Kaprielian up for the A's and although he was on the losing side of a 1-0 game against the Twins ten days ago, he has not pitched well at The Coliseum.
Twins will have to do it without Byron Buxton again as we has another designated rest day.
First Pitch at 8:40p local time.
Twins Lineup
1B - Arraez
2B - Polance
DH - Sanches
RF - Kepler
LF - Gordon
CF - Celestino
SS - Lewis
3B - Miranda
C - Jeffers
The Twins make their first trip out west tonight in the first of three versus the A's, and you know what that means: the good ol' 9pm start time. I'll be looking out for my fellow night owls in the game log.
Woo boy! We have one of those future hall of fame pitchers vs. a young up and coming ace head-to-head tonight at Target Field. Reminds me of back in 2006 when Francisco Liarano faced Roger Clemens. Verlander v. Ryan tonight and check out these stats:
| x | Ryan | Verlander |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 25 | 39 |
| Starts | 10 | 459 |
2022
| Stat | Ryan | Verlander |
|---|---|---|
| ERA | 1.63 | 1.93 |
| FIP | 3.08 | 3.23 |
| AVG | .167 | .168 |
| OPS | .516 | .493 |
| WHIP | 0.83 | 0.70 |
| K-BB% | 19.8% | 22.9% |
| W-L | 3-1 | 3-1 |
Should be a humdinger and Byron Buxton should be back in the line up. First pitch at 6:40p and looks like a gorgeous night for baseball.
Twins Line up
RF - Kepler
1B - Miranda
DH - Sanchez
2B - Polanco
3B - Urshela
SS - Lewis
LF - Kirilloff
C - Jeffers
CF - Celestino
Charlie Gehringer (1903)
Rip Sewell (1907)
Eddie Chiles (1910)
Jack Lang (1921)
Nestor Chylak (1922)
Milt Pappas (1939)
Frank Quilici (1939)
Jerry Martin (1949)
Dane Iorg (1950)
Mark Huismann (1958)
Walt Terrell (1958)
Trent Hubbard (1964)
Bobby Witt (1964)
Kerry Ligtenberg (1971)
Francisco Cordero (1975)
Miguel Sano (1993)
Eddie Chiles was the owner of the Texas Rangers from 1980-1989.
Jack Lang was a long-time sportswriter in New York and was the secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers Association of America from 1966-1988.
Nestor Chylak was an American League umpire from 1954-1978.
