Twins 8, Rangers 6: Pitching Optional

After the weather forecast LIED and freak thunderstorms bombed Dallas County, an hour-plus rain delay gave way to a 3h, 20m game. Screw you, baseball gods. (I'd be worried about offending them, but, really, what else are they gonna do to the Twins this year? Oh, noes. Now I've boned it.)

As you can guess from the running length/score, this was not a well-pitched affair. Twins "ex" Kyle Lohse didn't have a triumphant return to MLB, giving up six runs (all earned) in five innings. OTOH, it's been a while since a Texas starter lasted so much as five innings, and Lohse's 109 pitches allowed the Rangers to finish this off with only two more relievers.

Ricky Nolasco, um, blah, blah, boring, boring. He's Mike Pelfrey without the great sense of humor. Didn't get mauled. Co-"closers" Fernando Abad (who may be kinda hurt) and Brandon Kintzler did get pretty mauled, but Kintzler got Adrian Beltre to fly out as the tying run for your finish. Because if he hadn't, and the game had gone to extra innings, you sure wouldn't be reading this before 9 AM.

O-fense. Dongs off Lohse from Eduardo Nunez & Eddie Rosario; callups Rosario and Kennys Vargas are hot stuff right now. Dong by Ian Desmond off Nolasco, Ian's been hot all year. Box score ici.

On the radio, Kris & Cory were mostly excited about this guy:

All-Star dedication.

We love our fans. https://t.co/9qP74ekhyz #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/XeFn3kuvEL

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 10, 2016

Apparently this dude goes all over, shaving the jerseys of Twins players into his back hair. This may seem ridiculous, and, yeah it kinda is. But think about it. He can't help how hirsute he is. He's either gotta spend a ton having that stuff shaved, just live with it, or hey -- do something with it that makes people smile. I approve of his decision.

Actual good Twins defense clips! Brian Dozier showing some range and Joe Mauer with a nice recovery. Click as desired.

Your COTG was wayback sharing this recipe for Tex-Mex Kimchi. Robot Roll Call:

Thanks folks for keeping the thread lively, and join in tomorrow for Tommy Milone and A.J. Griffin at 2:05 CDT, gamethread sometime previous to that!