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A's starting pitcher Brett Anderson seemed to have everything tonight, and the Twins... not so much.
Anderson was making his first start since undergoing Tommy John's surgery and 13 months of rehab--but if he was feeling rusty, it barely showed. After giving up a single to Ben Revere, who then scored on a wild pitch, Anderson settled down and went on to pitch six more scoreless innings (what us Twins fans might call "pulling a Radke"). A notable highlight lowlight came in the top of the fifth inning when Trevor Plouffe hit into a soul-crushing triple play, which ended all Twins offensive motivation for the rest of the game (including my own, as I shortly thereafter fell asleep on the couch--dang west-coast games).
Cole De Vries had an okay start (by today's Twins' standards, anyway), going 5.2 innings and giving up only two earned runs. After giving up three straight singles and the go-ahead run with two outs in the sixth, De Vries was pulled in favor of Anthony Swarzak, who ended the sixth inning, but quickly surrendered two more runs in the seventh.
The Twins batters ended the game with only four hits, zero walks, and no player credited with a run batted in.
If you want a quick snapshot of how demoralizing this game really was, take a look at the studs and duds--after the jump
Studs:
- Jeff Gray: 1.1 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 earned runs (yes, this is the most stud worthy performance the Twins got tonight).
- Darin Mastroianni: 0 for 3, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts.
- Trevor Plouffe: 0 for 3, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, hit into triple play in the 5th inning.
- Pedro Florimon: 0 for 3, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts.
- Jamey Carroll: 0 for 3, 0 walks, 1 strikeout.
- Joe Mauer: 0 for 3, 0 walks.
- Josh Willingham: 1 for 3, promptly picked off, 0 walks, 1 strikeout.
- Anthony Swarzak: 0.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 1 walk, 2 earned runs.