Rays 8, Twins 6: Twins lose marathon 15-inning game

The Twins and Rays played a bunch of baseball today, 6 hours and 26 minutes of it in fact. That’s the longest game ever played at Target Field, and the longest game this season in MLB. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Kyle Gibson was somewhere in-between good and bad today. The Rays got to him early on in the first inning on a double, a couple walks and a hit. Gibson limited the damage to just 2, and got out of the inning.

The Rays starter, Alex Cobb, had his good curveball today, but the Twins were able to take him out after 5 innings by getting his pitch count up. In the 3rd inning, Joe Mauer doubled in the first run of the game.

In the 5th, the Rays got another run on a Kevin Kiermaier double and error by Max Kepler; 3-1, Rays.

Gibson left the game in the 6th inning for Craig Breslow. Gibby’s final line: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K.

Jason Castro, who caught this entire game, doubled in a run in the 6th to make the score 3-2, Rays. In the 7th, Joe Mauer (yes, that Joe Mauer) tied the game with a home run to left. In the 8th, Brian Dozier and Jorge Polanco drove in the go ahead runs to make it 5-3, Twins. They almost scored a 6th run, but Dozier was ruled out at home plate trying to score on a single. I think he was safe, but you can watch the video here.

Brandon Kintzler was tasked with saving the game and winning the series, but baseball happened. With 2 outs and a runner on 1st, Evan Longoria hit a double to score a run. Later, Steven Souza hit a single to score Longoria, tying the game. Shucks. J.B. Shucks.

To extras we go (nothing happened in the bottom of the 9th, of course)!

The 10th inning consisted of two 1-2-3 innings, nothing to see here, move along.

In the 11th, Dozier lead off with a walk and was sac-bunted to 2nd. Then Danny Farquhar, one of my favorite names in baseball, intentionally walked Mauer. Kennys Vargas (0-8, 4 K) struck out, and Max Kepler was intentionally walked. Molitor pinch hit Miguel Sano for Eduardo Escobar with the bases loaded, but he struck out for the 9th straight time, ending the threat.

One big stud today was the trio of Ryan Pressly, Matt Belisle and Justin Haley; they kept us in the ballgame for quite a while. The 12th and 13th innings were relatively uneventful, so let’s fast forward to the 14th, which I have one sentence for.

The Twins and Rays exchanged runs this time, with Robbie Grossman providing the RBI for the Twins.

Then the Twins sorta ran out of pitchers. Bless his heart, Hector Santiago offered to pitch the 15th inning. Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison treated him with back to back solo homers over the course of 3 pitches.

The Twins went quietly in the bottom of the 15th, sealing the final score of 8-6.

Notes:

• Justin Haley is going back on the DL.
• Kennys Vargas was demoted to AAA.
• Joe Mauer joins Rod Carew as the second Twin to ever reach base 7 times in one game.
• Eddie Rosario was thrown out at home on a “double steal” attempt, so that’s a thing.

Studs:

All of you gamethreaders for sticking this game out!

Joe Mauer: 4-5, 3 BB, HR, 2B, 2 RBI

Eddie Rosario: 2-4, 2 BB (WHAT?)

Duds:

All of the bunting we did in this game, or most of it.

Brandon Kintzler: Blown save, he started the fire.

The Twins were 3-13 with RISP today, and left 17 runners on.

# Recs	Commenter	Comment Link
5	kenzertz	I'm listening to the radio, too.
5	less cowbell, more 'neau	You're late, pothead.
5	Asthix	Twilight come and me wan go ho'ome
5	CG19	He's putting in wRC and getting results
5	NoahRJ	Said everyone, ever.
4	less cowbell, more 'neau	Need to call a sabermortician for that joke, amirite?
4	James Fillmore	Despite his courageous activism in the fight against apartheid
3	badcoffee	I'm looking for him to do
3	less cowbell, more 'neau	Damitol©
3	James Fillmore	(Side effects include intestinal discomfort and watching Twins catchers hit. If your game lasts longer than five hours, please seek emergency attention.)
3	Joel Hernandez	They also never traded Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps
3	James Fillmore	Bourbon is a helluva drug
3	less cowbell, more 'neau	We were playing the Rays
3	Joel Hernandez	bad coffee!
3	NoahRJ	Amazing? Or totally expected and not at all abnormal?
3	Lestermilk	I'm not your buddy, guy
2	badcoffee	I'm picturing a conversation like this pregame
2	James Fillmore	My boss can't afford THAT many tickets
2	badcoffee	...and MAUER hit a HR
2	less cowbell, more 'neau	These pictures aren't big enough so I have no idea what you are trying to say here.
2	Uncle Lincoln	Wow I pitch framing
2	Lestermilk	I just watched a video about a Japanese solider who didn't know that WW2 ended and fought for another 29 years.
2	badcoffee	I'm thinking about rec'ing every comment
2	NoahRJ	#BlackPiecesMatter
2	badcoffee	that would actually be slightly believable
2	badcoffee	I'll rec that
2	James Fillmore	This is honestly the kind of fuckwad
2	SooFoo Fan	BRAND
2	less cowbell, more 'neau	I may be a bit tired and loopy
2	James Fillmore	He wasn't speaking to Mr. Bremer
2	badcoffee	suuuuuuuuuuurrreeeee ya do...
2	Joel Hernandez	The Twins are going to buy a lot of office chairs
2	James Fillmore	I mean Redmond
2	NoahRJ	You mean Expos?
2	badcoffee	attempted TOOTBLAN
2	Brandon Brooks	Rec'd
2	badcoffee	Absolut Nonsense
2	James Fillmore	POOPIEBURGERS!
2	Brandon Brooks	This game is far from over
2	TwinsDingers	This is why we need to get rid of the umps
2	James Fillmore	Call me Mike Redmond
2	Brandon Brooks	DOZIER GOLD GLOVE 2017
2	James Fillmore	That is confusing and unhelpful