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Kyle Gibson sailed through the 1st, then hit some chop in the 2nd. Four hits and a plunked Jarrod Dyson later, the Royals were up 2-0.
Kennys Vargas hit a solo homer in the top o' the 6th.
Top of the 7th, the Twins went Medieval old school on the Royals. Back-to-back singles by Eduardo Escobar and JRM, followed by a Logan Schafer sac bunt to move 'em over. Then a double triple by Byron Buxton to bring 'em home. Jorge Polanco singled him in to make it 4-2 Twins.
Bottom half of that inning, Gibby ran into more trouble giving up two more runs, one on an RBI triple by Dyson to tie it up 4-4. That was the end of Gibson's night.
Twins rallied in the 9th with three RBI singles by Robbie Grossman, Miguel Sano, and Max Kepler and were up by three.
Brandon Kintzler came in in the bottom of the 9th for the save, but the Twins started giving up bases like Nick the Bartender giving out wings. After loading up the bases, Kintzler got Eric Hosmer to ground into a double play but a run scored. Salvador Perez came in off the bench and hit in another run, to bring the Royals within one run of tying it up. Terrance Gore was brought in to PR for Perez and luckily for the Twins, he got TOOTBLANed on the challenge for the last out. WHEW!
W: Tonkin (3-2)
L: Herrera (2-6)
SV: Kintzler (16)
Gibson, 6.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Duffy, 6.1 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
STUDS:
Vargas, 2 for 5, 2B, HR
Buxton, 2 for 3, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
DUDS:
Not tonight
I'm not sure if it was Jesse or Randball's Stu who decided to call it "Robot Roll Call" after the MST3K opening, but I think it's fitting. I picture us sitting in gamethreads making smart alecky comments about what's happening in the game. It works better when there are lots of comments, but this season took a toll on our numbers. Hopefully, the Twins won't suck again and we'll get some of our robot friends to come back. To those of you who stuck it out in the gamethreads to the bitter end, thank you for making them so fun and may no one question your Twins fandom ever again. Salute!
ROBOT ROLL CALL!
| # | Commenter | # Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Fillmore | 36 |
| 2 | Brandon Brooks | 35 |
| 3 | myjah | 32 |
| 4 | less cowbell, more 'neau | 31 |
| 5 | Daniel Carlson | 18 |
| 6 | Asthix | 10 |
| 7 | montanatwinsfan | 10 |
| 8 | Gunnarthor | 10 |
| 9 | Joel Hernandez | 9 |
| 10 | gintzer | 6 |
| 11 | Ton Brady Quinn in The Fly 2 | 5 |
| 12 | Devereaux | 3 |
| 13 | SooFoo Fan | 3 |
| 14 | TawnyFroggy | 3 |
| 15 | WestRiverTwinsFan | 2 |
| 16 | Imakesandwichesforaliving | 1 |
I was trying to find a good song to end my Thursday game recaps on. Something that would sum up the 2016 season. My thought was a video of Jason Kipnis hitting a home run off of the latest Twins call up to the bullpen back in July, then a slow close up of Terry Ryan's face as the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme starts playing. But that seems like piling on. Instead, I'm going with Shonen Knife. Ramones inspired Japanese girl bands like Shonen Knife, The 5, 6, 7, 8's and Supersnazz are some of the best things that happened in the 90's. This song just makes me happy.