Twins 12, Diamondbacks 5: Monster first inning leads to series sweep

Prior to the game, the Twins inducted Andy MacPhail into the Twins Hall of Fame. Congratulations are in order for him, the man who put together the teams that won two World Series. Onto the baseball!

Bartolo Colon was the starter today for Minnesota, and he labored through the first (20+ pitches) but didn’t give up any runs. Then the bats went to work against the lefty non-starter-but-he-started-anyway T.J. McFarland.

Brian Dozier lead off with a walk, and then Eddie Rosario grounded out to first (Dozier advanced to 2nd on the play). That was the only out that McFarland would record. Byron Buxton singled to drive in Dozier, and Eduardo Escobar followed suit with a single of his own. The 1B Mitch Garver walked, and then Jorge Polanco singled to score Buxton. Max Kepler, known to struggle mightily against lefties, banged a double to deep center scoring 2 more runs. Chris Gimenez singled to left to score yet another run.

By this point it was 5-0, and normally you’d see a rally end about now. Nope. After Ehire Adrianza flew out, Dozier walked to fill the bases. Then Eddie Rosario hit a freaking grand slam! Buxton finally ended the inning by lining out to center, after what seemed like an hour long first inning.

The next inning, Rosario picked up an outfield assist by throwing out what would’ve been the D-backs first run at the plate. That was cool.

Predictably, the rest of the game wasn’t nearly as interesting. It’s hard to top a 9-run inning. Colon pitched okay today, he gave up 3 solo-homers and 4 runs total over 6 innings.

The Twins added a run in the third on an error by 3B Jake Lamb. Chris Gimenez and Brian Dozier both hit solo dongs in the 5th to add some “insurance” runs that they, thankfully, didn’t need.

In the 7th, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo was ejected after warnings were issued (Buxton stole a base, they didn’t like it and plunked Gimenez). This made Ron Gardenhire the acting manager. I wanted Gardy to come out and get ejected just for old times’ sake. This did not happen, sadly.

Ryan Pressly pitched scoreless 7th and 8th innings. Glen Perkins gave up a run but completed the 9th inning to give the Twins the sweep.

The Twins go to Chicago to face the White Sox for 5 games in 4 days (doubleheader tomorrow).

Notes:

• Bartolo Colon now has a win against all 30 MLB teams, he’s had quite the career.
• After their run in the third, the Twins had scored 25 unanswered runs against the D-backs this series.
• Chris Gimenez was a triple shy of the cycle, but he was plunked in his final plate appearance.
• Daniel Descalso, who is not a pitcher, pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning for the D-backs.
• It sounds like Miguel Sano is going to the DL:

Studs:

Brian Dozier: 1-2, 3 R, 3 BB, 1 HR

Eddie Rosario: 2-5, 1 R, 4 RBI, GRAND SALAMI

Chris Gimenez: 3-3, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR.

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Robot Roll Call:

Enjoy your week, everybody!