Twins outplay Royals

by cmathewson on Jul 1, 2009 1:03 AM EDT

Justin Morneau homered and five pitchers combined to hold the Royals in check for a 2-1 win at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City.

Even though Royals' starter Brian Bannister pitched better, Scott Baker managed to get the win, thanks to a little better defense behind him than Bannister had. Baker labored through five innings, throwing 111 pitches (several on two-strike fouls). But he only gave up one run and ended up evening his record at 6-6 with the help of his defense and the bullpen. Bobby Keppel came in to pitch 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief and bridge the game to the setup corps. Joe Nathan nailed it down in the ninth for his 20th save.

With the game tied at one apiece, the game turned on two plays in the sixth inning, one not made by the Royals and one made by the Twins:

After a Joe Mauer single, Justin Morneau hit a hard ground ball right at first baseman Billy Butler for a sure double play. But Butler's throw was over the head of shortstop Tony Pena and into left field, allowing Mauer to go to third and Morneau to reach. After a Jason Kubel strikeout, Michael Cuddyer hit a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Twins ahead 2-1.

The Royals threatened in the bottom of the inning but failed to tie it up thanks to good Twins defense. With Keppel pitching, two on and two outs, Brendan Harris dove up the middle to snare a hard ground ball off the bat of pinch hitter Jose Guillen. The only play he had was to shovel the ball to Nick Punto covering second for the inning-ending force out. From there, the bullpen held the Royals in check for the win.

Studs:

1. Morneau: That's three homers in as many days and a 2-3 night with a walk. He's really starting to heat up as the other M&M boy cools down.

2. Nathan: He has become Mr. Automatic. Despite the one-run lead on the road, there was no anxiety in the dugout.

3. Keppel: He is everything Luis Ayala was not. Most of all, he's been effective in his two outings.

Duds:

1. Punto: He's looked totally clueless since coming off the DL. You know it's bad when you stat to ask why Gardy doesn't use Tolbert.

2. Butler: If you can't play defense you have to hit. Mike Jacobs has to be better than this guy at first base.

3. Kubel: 0-4 with 2 Ks and 5 LOB. Ouch.

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Comments

No decision.

For some reason I thought Bannister would get a no decision rather than the loss because the winning run came on an error. I may be way off here, I guess that is not the rule. Its a shame he gets the “L.”

If Ozzie Guillen likes Punto that much, I vote we send him down to Chicago. Punto and Guillen deserve each other.

by FoulJack on Jul 1, 2009 1:15 AM EDT reply actions

I think

he got the “l” because he put Mauer on base.

by montanatwinsfan on Jul 1, 2009 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Guys lose no hitters this way

The W and L stats are the least indicative of actual performance. This was a tough loss by Bannister.

Montana is right: Mauer was his runner. It doesn’t matte how he scored. Hillman could have pulled Bannister after Mauer got on and the next pitcher could have thrown three wild pitches in a row.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Jul 1, 2009 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Doesn't matter

Wins, losses, and saves don’t account for earned runs – if Joe Nathan comes in, and the first five batters hit balls between Nick Punto’s legs to lose the game, he gets a blown save and a loss.

Odd coincidence – it was on this day in 1990 (it was in the “today in baseball” note in the newspaper this morning) that Andy Hawkins of the Yankees pitched a no-hitter and lost the game 4-0 thanks to a bunch of errors in the 8th inning. I have the 1991 Donruss “Highlights” card commemorating the no-hitter – I always though it was funny that he threw a no-no and lost, although at the time I didn’t realize how rare it was.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Jul 1, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions