Kyle Gibson pitched well, the run support was there, and despite an 8th-inning scare, the Twins got back to .500 with a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
The Twins opened the scoring with three second-inning doubles off M's starter Chris Young, courtesy of laid back Aaron Hicks, Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe. Josmil Pinto stroked a solo dong in the fourth to extend the lead to 3-0.
Meanwhile, Kyle Gibson held Seattle at bay most of the evening. Robinson Cano's RBI double in the fifth was the only time the Mariners got to Gibson, who went 7 innings, scattering six hits, walking two and striking out four.
After another Brian Dozier solo home run and an Ed Escobar single gave the Twins a 5-1 lead, the Twins bullpen was tasked with holding the line in the eighth. It was not pretty. Caleb Thielbar got the first out, then surrendered a walk, a single and a Dustin Ackley triple to make the score 5-3. Casey Fien entered and gave up a very long sacrifice fly to make it a 5-4 game, but escaped the inning without further damage.
Glen Perkins, fresh off blowing a save in Thursday's game, came into the game and immediately gave up a single and a wild pitch to put the tying run at second with nobody out. And then...nothing bad happened. A grounder, an infield fly, and a come-backer sealed the deal, and evened the Twins' record at 20-20.
Per the invaluable Phil Miller, the Twins' five doubles and two dongs are their most extra base hits since last June 22nd against Cleveland. Winning games is fun. GO TWINS GO.
ROBOT ROLL CALL
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | NoahRJ | 57 |
2 | whiskeyplz | 51 |
3 | wayback | 38 |
4 | SooFoo Fan | 24 |
5 | kenzertz | 11 |
6 | DavidRF | 8 |
7 | DerTwain | 3 |
8 | Twins_Homer | 3 |
9 | gonzobob | 1 |
10 | WestRiverTwinsFan | 1 |
11 | Devereaux | 1 |
12 | less cowbell, more 'neau | 1 |
CHARTS & GRAPHS
Source: FanGraphs
Enjoy your weekend, everybody.