DAY GAME ALERT
Hughs v Sale
Twins:
1. Buck
2. Dozier
3. Mauer
4. Hunter
5. Plouffe!
6. Nunez
7. Suzuki
8. Vargas
9. Robinson
Sox:
1. Eaton
2. Gillaspie
3. Abreu
4. LaRoche
5. Cabrera
6. Garcia
7. Ramirez
8. Flowers
9. Sanchez
GO TWINS!
We've known all year that the fellas wouldn't keep up the opportunistic scoring in bunches with men on base indefinitely, or even without interruption. Unfortunately, over the past 10 (5-5 record), they have averaged 3.2 runs per game, or just under 1.5 runs less than they averaged through the first 47 games.
Last night, the Twins scattered 8 hits over 9 innings, the lone run coming off a Rosario homerun in the 7th. Their best opportunity to score came with the bases loaded and one out in the 3rd after a couple of infield singles and a Hicks double. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in baseball, the next batter - Hunter - hit into a double play and the inning was over.
In the 5th, Escobar made it as far as second before Dozier flew out and again in the 7th, Escobar was on second with two outs and Dozier struck out to end the home half.
This year, Dozier is hitting .091/.375/.091 with 2 out and RISP (not good) but Hunter is a much more robust .381/.480/1.048 in that spot and is slashing .500/.500/.750 with 1 out and the bases full.
Plouffe was 0-4 last night and is hitting .150/.171/.250 in his last 10 games.
Of the regulars,* only Dozier, Hunter & Plouffe have an OPS+ over 100 and only Dozier (.268 BA) has an OPS over .800. The team leader in RBI is Hunter with 36, with only 3 GDP in more than 200 AB's. As I noted, sometimes the GDP happens in baseball, but you'd like to think that one in the 3rd inning won't end your last, best chance to score.
On the mound, Hughes took his 6th loss of the year, despite pitching 7.2 innings and allowing only 3 earned runs on 7 hits. The last run charged to Phil resulted from Thompson giving up a single to Hosmer and allowing an inherited runner to score. The first runs charged to Hughes came courtesy of a Kendrys Morales bomb in the 2nd. Hughes allowed a lead off single to Hosmer after getting ahead 0-2, and then fell behind 3-1 to Kendrys before grooving a fastball which was promptly deposited in the upper deck in right center. He settled in nicely after that, allowing only 5 hits in the next 21 at-bats.
All in all, it wasn't a bad outing from Hughes, he just didn't get any help from the offense.
End result, the Royals have moved in front of the Twins for 1st place in the Central by mere percentage points. They'll have 2 more games to take the top spot back. They still have the second most wins in the AL, behind only Houston.
*Minimum 45 games played and 150 at bats.
Bear Image Copyright: Gerald D. Tang
The difference was night and day.
A fella could get used to this.
It's official, I have absolutely no idea what to think of these guys.
I don't really have a lot of time here, but that's okay because I don't really have a lot to say (socaltwinsfan created a good case for healthy skepticism here). With help from a thoroughly enjoyable drubbing of the White Sox, the Twins are a winning team for the first time in almost a year. At this point, I'm not going to think too much about it and just enjoy.
We close out the longest homestand of the year with a visit from the scuffling A's. Maybe we can even get a few more ticks above .500. Hughes, in search of his first all mighty W, starts off on the mound tonight.
Continue reading 2015 Game 26: Oakland Athletics vs. Minnesota Twins
Do your job.
Phil Hughes was awesome. 8 innings, 9 strikeouts, 0 walks (natch), but two solo home runs as all King Felix needed as the Seattle Mariners beat the Twins 2-0 in a game played in a little over two hours.
Hernadez was dominant early, taking a perfect game into the 5th inning before Trevor Plouffe hit a solid single. The Twins made some waves in the later innings of the game but could not plate the run. The best chance was in the 6th. Suzuki reached 2nd on a hit/error combo. Moved over to 3rd on an infield single by Jordan Schafer (he made one bunt attempt but whiffed), but Hernandez slammed the door.
One is supposed to cheer for the home team, and perhaps I am underselling how awesome Phil Hughes pitched tonight, but I appreciate good baseball and watching King Felix is pretty darned good. I dont have a MLB package and the Mariners are never on national TV, so I dont get to watch him as often as I would like. Perhaps the M's will be half way good this year and get some national love.
NOTES
- Phil Hughes has 2 complete games as a Twin. Both are 8 inning losses.
-This is Hughes' 4th career complete game. His first complete game was a shutout. But only 6 innings in a rain shortened game.
-Other pitchers with 2 CGs as a Twin: Brian Duensing, LaTroy Hawkins, Livan Hernandez, Les Straker, Luis Tiant, Bill Campbell, and more.
-Schafer's 6th inning infield single broke a 0-21 slump. Perhaps his time as a Twin is done at the end of April.
-This was Hernadez's 24th career complete game and 10th shutout. CC Sabathia lead active players with 38 CGs and Tim Hudson leads with 13 SHO
-The Twins had 5 hits, all singles. This is the third time this year they have been extra baseless.
-The is the third time the Twins have been shutout. The first two happened in Detroit in games 1 and 2.
West coast baseball for a short spell. The beginning of this game will compete with the Wild game so make sure you give your thumb a warm up before you furiously flip back and forth between the two games.
On paper, this is a good pitching matchup. Phil Hughes throws for the Twins, King Felix for Seattle. I hope the Twins win 2 out of 3 this weekend.
I'm kicking it at an eight hour childbirth class today, so i might miss this one.
Phil Hughes takes the mound against Salazar. Let us hope tjat he can maintain this momentum we've got going these last couple of games.
Go Twins!
(from the Holy Roller)
Well, David Price is a really good pitcher, and he'll shut teams down sometimes. Phil Hughes pitched well except for a few balls that went over the fence. On the plus side, I had a good day of bowling, going 143, 205, 171 for a 519 series. We'll just have to settle for 161-1!
