MINNESOTA 7, CHICAGO 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, May 26.
Batting stars: Max Kepler was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth), a double, two runs, and four RBIs. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixteenth.
Pitching stars: Jake Odorizzi struck out nine in 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one walk. Tyler Duffey struck out six in two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.
Opposition star: Charlie Tilson was 2-for-4.
The game: The White Sox put men on first and second with two out in the third, but Yoan Moncada struck out to end the threat. With one out in the bottom of the third, Byron Buxton singled, went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, and scored on Kepler's double. Jorge Polanco walked, and with two out Rosario hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. While you can never put a game in the bank in the third inning, it really did feel like the game was over at that point.
They kept playing, of course. There were no threats, however, until the seventh, when Jose Abreu walked and Yonder Alonso doubled, putting men on second and third with none out. But Eloy Jimenez lined to right, Jose Rondon fanned, and Yolmer Sanchez flied out, leaving Chicago off the board. In the bottom of the seventh, one-out singles by Willians Astudillo and Juan Castro and a two-out home run by Kepler gave Minnesota a 7-0 lead. The White Sox put two men on in the ninth but did not score.
WP: Odorizzi (7-2). LP: Dylan Covey (0-4). S: None.
Notes: Marwin Gonzalez was in left field, with Rosario at DH. Luis Arraez was at second and Astudillo at third, with Jonathan Schoop and Miguel Sano on the bench.
Arraez was 0-for-3 and is batting .389. Polanco was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .335. Odorizzi has an ERA of 2.16. Matt Magill retired both men he faced and has an ERA of 1.54. Taylor Rogers retired the only man he faced and has an ERA of 1.31. Duffey has an ERA of 2.63.
With Nelson Cruz out, Rocco seems to be using the DH spot to give various starting players a rest. That makes sense. They don't have anyone on the bench who's really a DH-type, and they've got a couple of guys who, as Gordo used to say, "can play around", so you might as well take advantage of that.
The Twins used four relief pitchers yesterday, three of them for less than an inning. Rocco seems to have done that sort of thing a lot lately, using multiple relief pitchers for one or two batters. As a general rule I'm not a huge fan of that, but it certainly appears to be working. The Twins have five relief pitchers with ERAs under two (six if you count Zack Littell). I know ERA isn't necessarily the best way to evaluate a relief pitcher, but that still is pretty darn good.
It's been nice to see the Twins bring in some mopup relievers who can actually get the job done in the last few games.
We've reached Memorial Day, one of the traditional markers of how the season is going. The Twins are 36-16, twenty games over .500, and are in the lead by ten games. I said early on that the Twins had a chance this year, but I most definitely did not expect this.
Record: The Twins are 36-16, first in the American League Central, leading Cleveland by ten games. They have won six in a row and eleven of their last twelve.
Projected record: We're still on track for 146-16!