Twins 4, Indians 3: Oswaldo Arcia went boom

It looked like it was going to be another terrible, un-watchable night for us Twins fans. Jordon Schafer, batting first in place of the injured Danny Santana, drew a walk to lead-off the game, but was promptly picked off trying to steal second. Indians starter Trevor Bauer retried Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer to end the inning having thrown only 15 pitches.

The second inning was even worse. Bauer again retired the Twins in-order on only 15 pitches. In the bottom of the second, Trevor May gave up a lead-off single to Carlos Santana, followed by a double to Jason Kippnis, a RBI ground-out to Lonnie Chisenhall, a sac-fly to Yan Gomes, a double to David Murphy, and... well, you get the picture. The Twins were lucky to escape the inning down only 0-2.

The third inning also sucked. Bauer came in, and this time he only needed eight pitches to get through the inning. It was the most embarrassing showing by the Twins all year since Sunday. At this point, the majority of the Twins audience probably turned off their TVs and went to work on their model trains.

And that's a shame.

With two outs in the top of the 4th, Joe Mauer hit a double that pushed him past Rod Carew for fourth place on the Twins all-time doubles list. Kennys Vargas followed up with another double, driving in Joe Mauer. Trevor Bauer was getting nervous. He gave up a single to Trevor Plouffe that sent Kennys Vargas trucking to home plate and almost tripping over Trevor's bat since Oswaldo Arcia was too busy doing his thing to move it. That's okay, though, because Oswaldo Arcia's thing was apparently getting ready to launch a two-run home run, which he did. It ruled.

The Indians got one run back in the top of the eighth, but it wasn't enough. Jared Burton came in and closed the game out in the bottom of the 9th in place of the injured Glen Perkins, and did a swell job, retiring the side.

It's nice when we can have nice things.

STUDS!

• Oswaldo Arcia - 2-for-4, 2 run home run (the game winner!).
• Joe Mauer - 1-for-3, 1 double (surpassing Rod Carew as 4th for Twins doubles all-time), 1 run, 1 walk.
• Kennys Vargas - 1-for-4, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 run.
• Trevor May - 5 IP, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 Ks, earned his second major league win. Good for him.

Duds

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*Brananorama, arriving late to the game thread, was assigned detention in which he had to stay in the game thread for one hour following the end of the game, explaining this absurd roll call.