I'll say one thing about last night, at least the Twins offense showed some life, jumping out to separate three run leads in the fourth and fifth innings. Naturally, starter Anthony Swarzak immediately gave up both leads, surrendering 8 runs over the two innings. These days, it seems like either the pitching or the offense shows up, but rarely on the same night.
All the action was in the fourth and fifth innings, as Jason Kubel started the scoring with a three run homer to put the Twins up 3-0. But in the bottom of the inning, someone named Alejandro De Aza answered with a three run homer of his own to tie the game. In the fifth, a double from Joe Mauer and single from Michael Cuddyer plated three to put the Twins up 6-3.
Then the wheels fell off. Swarzak started out the fifth east enough, striking out Juan Pierre with a 95 MPH heater. But after that, every pitch was up, giving up back to back line drives, a soft fly ball single and hitting Dayan Viciedo for good measure. Then the Twins terrible defense reared its ugly head, as Cuddyer (playing first base) attempted to throw out Viciedo at second base but the ball ended up in left field, scoring another two runs to tie the game at 6. Alex Burnett relieved Swarzak and promptly gave up a walk, hit by pitch and another run. At the end of it all, the White Sox were up 8-6 and the game was pretty much over.
Studs
- Middle of the order: The 3-4-5 hitters (Joe Mauer, Cuddyer and Kubel) went a combined 5 for 12 with 4 runs and 6 RBI.
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Lester Oliveros: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 SO. Pitched two good innings at the end.
Duds
- The rest of the lineup: Went a combined 2 for 22. That's what you get when half of Rochester is in the lineup.
- Anthony Swarzak: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO. He wasn't very good, it appears Swarzak's peripherals may be catching up to him.
- Alex Burnett: 0.1 IP, BB, HBP. Ugh.