Twins 7, Marlins 5: Home Runs For All (The Sequel)

I think we might be starting to see the bats we expected to see this entire season. The offense combined for eight extra-base hits, including three home runs as the Twins beat the Marlins 7-5 on Wednesday night.

The scoring started right away in the first inning when Joe Mauer went oppo against Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen, already his seventh of the season. A second run came in the second inning when with one on and one out, Oswaldo Arcia went first-pitch hacking and lined a double down the right field line. This brought up Kurt Suzuki, who lined a hit of his own into right field to make it 2-0. Trevor Plouffe then followed with a 2-run homer in the third inning and it appeared as though the Twins would coast to victory.

However, the Twins had sent out Ricky Nolasco and well, Ricky was going to Ricky. Double, single, RBI single, walk, strikeout, 2-run single, RBI single, tie game. Nolasco and Michael Tonkin combined to allow a fifth run in the sixth inning and it was starting to look like the same old story for the Twins.

It turned out it was the same old story, except we were watching a repeat of Tuesday's 7-5 victory. This time, Byung Ho Park hit the game-tying home run that knotted the score at 5, and rather than treating the fans to another walk-off, the Twins instead took advantage of an RBI double from Trevor Plouffe off the right-center field fence, followed by a soft line drive single from Brian Dozier to pull ahead 7-5. Mercifully, Paul Molitor finally relieved Kevin Jepsen of his closing duties and instead handed the ball to Brandon Kintzler, who gave up a 2-out single but otherwise was flawless in recording the first save of his career.

WP: Taylor Rogers (2-0)

LP: Nick Wittgren (1-1)

S: Brandon Kintzler (1)

Studs

Joe Mauer (2-for-5, HR, RBI), Trevor Plouffe (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Brian Dozier (3-for-4, RBI), Byung Ho Park (2-for-4, HR, RBI), Oswaldo Arcia (2-for-4, 2 2B), Kurt Suzuki (2-for-4, RBI)

Duds

Eduardo Nunez (0-for-5), Byron Buxton (0-for-3, sac bunt), Ricky Nolasco (5 2/3 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 3 K)