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In an effort that should make the Angels and their fans feel like they're on top of the world, Matt Shoemaker shut down the Twins on Tuesday night. He struck out ten and allowed just two hits over six innings, and his bullpen supported him with three perfect innings to seal the game.
Los Angeles got to Kyle Gibson in the second inning, although he kept the damage to one with help from an overturned challenge that went Minnesota's way as Trevor Plouffe tagged out C.J. Cron at third. The Angels would get one more in the second after a couple of singles and a walk, but once again their rally would be snuffed out by the final out being made at third base. Daniel Robertson scored before Brian Dozier tagged out Johnny Giavotella.
Eduardo Nunez picked up Minnesota's first hit leading off the top of the fifth. Joe Mauer gets credit for the second hit on a hard ground ball up the middle in the sixth. Mauer's single put Eduardo Escobar on second base after he'd walked to start the inning, but like the eight other top halves last night the Twins couldn't do anything with it.
Three singles and a fielder's choice chased Gibson in the sixth, but two of those runs would still bite him as Cron hit a three-run shot off of Blaine Boyer. Boyer has now allowed four hits and four walks in his last seven appearances, giving him a 6.23 ERA in just 4.1 innings. This should serve as further evidence of just how critical a bullpen improvement (or two) really is for the Twins if they plan on remaining competitive.
Tuesday night was a hot mess and pretty boring for Twins fans. Let's hope today's game goes better.
STUDS
Nah
DUDS