Mariners 11, Twins 4: Plugged Leake

This ballgame was closer for much longer than a quick glance at the score would indicate, but either way, the Minnesota Twins were schooled by the Seattle Mariners by a margin of seven runs on Saturday afternoon.

Jose Berrios began his afternoon with three perfect innings (including an expert fielding play on a bunt by Ichiro Suzuki), and it looked for a moment that the Twins would be led to victory on the back of another stellar performance from La Maquina. This, unfortunately, was not the case.

A pair of singles, a throwing error by Miguel Sano, and a two-out, two-run home run off the right field foul pole by Kyle Seager got the scoring started for the Mariners, who gave themselves a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. In the next frame, a two-run Dee Gordon single would give the M’s a five-run cushion. After striking out Jean Segura and hitting just 77 pitches, Berrios was pulled and Paul Molitor went to the bullpen. Despite allowing five earned runs, Berrios only gave up six hits, walking none and striking out seven in an abridged outing.

The bullpen kept things interesting for a little bit. 2.1 scoreless innings from Gabriel Moya and Ryan Pressly meant the Twins could stage a quasi-comeback in the bottom of the 6th. Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano corked back-to-back doubles to put the Twins on the board and knock starter Mike Leake out of the game. Eddie Rosario singled in Sano, and then Eduardo Escobar plated Rosie with a single of his own after a nine-pitch at-bat.

With the score still 5-3 Seattle, the Twins put together their best chance to tie the contest in the bottom of the 7th. Consecutive singles by Brian Dozier and Mauer, followed by a walk to Miguel Sano (his third of the day) loaded the bases up for Rosario -- who was struck out by Juan Nicasio, who got Logan Morrison to foul out to end the threat.

This gave the Mariners a decent bit of momentum. Zach Duke started the 8th for the Twins, let Seattle load the bases with nobody out, and was removed after getting Taylor Motter on strikes. Trevor Hildenberger came into the jam and served up a bases-clearing double into the left-center gap: 8-3 Seattle. Next batter up, Guillermo Heredia smoked a two-run shot off the left-field foul pole, mirroring Seager’s drive from earlier in the game. 10-3 Mariners.

Both teams plated a run in the 9th, with Jean Segura scoring on a wild pitch from Tyler Kinley, and Ryan LaMarre driving in Ehire Adrianza with a single in the bottom half. Strikeouts by Sano and Mitch Garver would wrap things up, and the Mariners took the victory in the coldest game in Target Field history.

The series will end tomorrow, provided that snowy weather doesn’t derail the pending pitching matchup of Lance Lynn and Marco Gonzales. See you then!

STUDS:

1B Joe Mauer (2-for-4, R)

3B Miguel Sano (1-for-2, R, RBI, 3 BB)

LF Eddie Rosario (2-for-4, R, RBI)

RP Gabriel Moya (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, K)

RP Ryan Pressly (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R)

DUDS:

DH Logan Morrison (0-for-4, K, 7 LOB)

PH-RF Robbie Grossman (0-for-2, 2 K)

RP Zach Duke (0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB)

RP Trevor Hildenberger (0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER)

ROBOT ROLL CALL:

# Recs	Commenter	Comment Link
8	James Fillmore	Hopefully so will the Twins’ bullpen
7	Daniel Carlson	Winter Ball
6	wayback	We secretly replaced the first baseman's glove with instant coffee, let's see if he notices
5	Theo77	Plate discipline!
5	montanatwinsfan	[no title]
5	CG19	And runs will lead to hate, and hate will lead to the dark side
5	TJ Gorsegner	Yup, there it is from Bert
5	TJ Gorsegner	Talk about some pace-of-play
5	montanatwinsfan	[no title]
5	Brandon Brooks	[no title]
5	wayback	The gatorade, having frozen solid, gives the hitter a concussion
5	wayback	Remember when TJ speculated this could be a 2 hour 15 minute game?
4	WolvesFan03	Frustrating result
4	TeamCrazyMatt	GO ART THOU TWINS GO
4	Brandon Brooks	BABIP: The Game
4	wayback	and I thought that joke stunk on the outside
4	TJ Gorsegner	Doubles not found?
4	Can't Read Good	Full disclosure, I'm going to be playing league of legends the entire time the game is on today.
4	TJ Gorsegner	I thought Dick was about to say "Left Handed Bat"
4	TeamCrazyMatt	Tale about George Stallings, former manager of the 1914 Miracle Braves
4	TJ Gorsegner	Hard contact eventually turns into hits though
4	Theo77	Is it really 27 degrees?
4	wayback	So all we need is a touchdown and two point conversion to tie
4	James Fillmore	I say we trade Berrios for a proven fourth outfielder
4	wayback	Someday we will have a better advanced metric for deciding games than who got the most runs
3	2wins87	And 4 Ks already
3	2wins87	31 pitches
3	wayback	That was ... ugh
3	James Fillmore	I was never sure what 96.3’s target audience was
3	EmeraldTwinkie	OK, time to get some guys on base
3	Brandon Brooks	Well, at least we've been making a ton of hard contact against Leake
3	SooFoo Fan	Bert is fired up
3	CG19	He's still going on about it
3	MNWildcat	This game is much less fun.
3	montanatwinsfan	Ahhhhh, whiskey!
3	SooFoo Fan	DO THE THING
3	wayback	1994
3	James Fillmore	LEN3 pointed out
3	Devereaux	Personal home opener!
3	TJ Gorsegner	but, would it be less unexpected than 3BB 0K out of Sano?
3	James Fillmore	I see my doing the dishes did not help
3	James Fillmore	2-19 would be good, LoMo
3	2wins87	I don't know
3	2wins87	I know it's early but I kind of wanted to see Grossman in that situation
3	mefoolonhill	Escobar is da man
3	TJ Gorsegner	Moya keeping the "no sleeves pitching" thing going
3	kenzertz	Career Hits Update
3	Joel Hernandez	Hi
3	James Fillmore	Best athletes on the field
3	wayback	Stop hitting balls to people, please
3	James Fillmore	Atteberry doing play-by-play
3	CG19	On the board
3	Coach Farmer	Roadkill
3	wayback	And his second, third, fourth and fifth
3	wayback	GO TWINS GO
3	TJ Gorsegner	Sadly, this sounds like something Manfred would propose
3	montanatwinsfan	I hope you get sunburned all the way into your nether regions.
3	James Fillmore	It was a savvy move by the general manager
3	James Fillmore	Close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades
3	TJ Gorsegner	That is the silliest disclaimer of all time
3	Cbrolin	good inning regardless
3	TJ Gorsegner	nojinxnojinxnojinx
3	TJ Gorsegner	If Berrios can more-or-less keep this up all season
3	Cbrolin	what do you mean catch Cleveland?
3	montanatwinsfan	I'm going to do some chores during the game - with the radio on THEN play League of Legends all night long.
3	wayback	You are all under arrest
3	TJ Gorsegner	FIRST PLACE BABY
2	Coach Farmer	Aaaaand I benched Seager today
2	EmeraldTwinkie	Or a pitch-to-contact reliever
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Can't be the latter
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Unfortunately
2	TeamCrazyMatt	I only saw one posted here,
2	wayback	TRAP IT IS
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Turd blossom
2	Joel Hernandez	Just get a bullpen cart
2	Theo77	Is Sano going crazy or what?
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Run, Run, Run, Jump
2	TeamCrazyMatt	As long as it's not 27 degrees at the dark side
2	kenzertz	I love baseball day games on the weekend.
2	Brandon Brooks	Beautiful pitch
2	James Fillmore	I really hope he can improve against LHP this year
2	James Fillmore	Phil Hughes hasn’t lost any more bones
2	Joel Hernandez	They should just wear sweater vests
2	James Fillmore	Rodney started 21 games in the minors
2	SooFoo Fan	All you need is just a little patience
2	CG19	Or not
2	Bb_referee	I did not need to know...
2	Joel Hernandez	What about at 420 degrees?
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Furthermore,
2	TJ Gorsegner	Its never lupus
2	wayback	Don't believe it. Grass is not green at 27 degrees
2	CG19	Never mind, he didn't get pinch ran for
2	montanatwinsfan	Ha Ha, 26 degrees at game time there. It's a balmy 36 degrees here, suckers!
2	wayback	WALKS WILL HAUNT
2	wayback	Bullpen is getting outs
2	CG19	The worst part was that the media acted like getting that bullpen of genius
2	wayback	Could have used that K a little sooner
2	TeamCrazyMatt	Mauer special
2	SooFoo Fan	The Show 18 finally came in the mail
2	Coach Farmer	... A tauntaun?
2	CG19	He has a lot of each of the 3 true outcomes
2	montanatwinsfan	omg this children's 'choir' is making my ears bleed
2	CG19	Sano has now reached 4 times
2	Joel Hernandez	No need to picture it with me
2	Brandon Brooks	JOB is...job'in
2	wayback	Yay LaMarre
2	TJ Gorsegner	Both were close though
2	TeamCrazyMatt	When my dad and I finish our Strat play of the '24 WS
2	kenzertz	When the Twins win on a walk-off, will they pour Gatorade on the hitter?
2	Brandon Brooks	Can't be havin' that
2	Coach Farmer	WE GOT A GUY THERE TOO
2	TeamCrazyMatt	That was the Worst Throw in the History of Today
2	Theo77	This is efficient pitching, eh?
2	TeamCrazyMatt	That broke like
2	James Fillmore	Maybe his parents also got the blank tile
2	kenzertz	Hello, Motter.
2	TJ Gorsegner	not great, Max
2	Theo77	yeah, its good.
2	James Fillmore	Kiss of death
2	wayback	And now Berrios, professional fielder
2	wayback	Rzepczynski - is that his name or was there an explosion at the Scrabble factory?
2	James Fillmore	He’s never projected to be the primary SS when Spring Training starts
2	blackmankitteh	was Rosario
2	TeamCrazyMatt	That is unfortunately correct
2	SooFoo Fan	It's lupus
2	EmeraldTwinkie	It will be nice when LoMo emerges from his slump
2	Brandon Brooks	HOLY MOLY JOLY BERROLY
2	wayback	NOT WINNING
2	Theo77	errors will haunt . . .
2	James Fillmore	It’s still far from Dover
2	Coach Farmer	We got a guy there
2	EmeraldTwinkie	Ah, well
1	Brandon Brooks	Wowza
1	2wins87	Yeah but make your defense worse as the game is getting closer?
1	2wins87	Yes, and why not for Morrison?
1	Brandon Brooks	This game is far from over
1	TeamCrazyMatt	LeVar Burton!
1	blackmankitteh	do the thing, Miguel
1	Joel Hernandez	I like the one episode of House
1	TJ Gorsegner	Not a home run, Brian
1	wayback	Mmmm-K
1	Brandon Brooks	How nice would a go-ahead jack be right here
1	Brandon Brooks	Go team!!!
1	TeamCrazyMatt	The other Mauer special
1	James Fillmore	Typo
1	Joel Hernandez	I don't think you will hear the sentence
1	James Fillmore	IT’S A TRAP
1	blackmankitteh	I can't stand hitting for Kepler there
1	TeamCrazyMatt	That fizzled
1	TJ Gorsegner	High of 82 and sunny here
1	blackmankitteh	well that's a good thing but not THE thing, Sano.
1	wayback	Mmmm-KK
1	James Fillmore	Paul the Perplexing
1	wayback	That'll do, Mig
1	Coach Farmer	That was exciting though
1	Coach Farmer	Something something jumping off a cliff...
1	CG19	I wonder if Kinley will pitch next inning
1	Coach Farmer	Me too, my guess is yes
1	CG19	Their job is to stop people from disseminating the accounts and descriptions of the games
1	wayback	Provus jinxed it
1	montanatwinsfan	well, poop
1	Brandon Brooks	This has become a different game entirely
1	SooFoo Fan	Oh
1	kenzertz	They loiter.
1	kenzertz	12th Twins pitcher of 2018.
1	CG19	Something something disseminated
1	TeamCrazyMatt	True Professional Hitter
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Breaking news:
1	Cbrolin	looks like we're getting more snow tomorrow
1	James Fillmore	Ryan LaMarre, hit machine
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Now 1-4
1	wayback	And our fielders didn't do him any favors
1	James Fillmore	Everyone at the game will freeze and die
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Ump is 0 for 3 this AB
1	SooFoo Fan	Well thats just how the basket spins
1	EmeraldTwinkie	Well, that escalated quickly
1	Brandon Brooks	Uggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
1	EmeraldTwinkie	Oh no, LoMo!
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Nuts
1	wayback	Oh
1	James Fillmore	Shoulda bunted
1	2wins87	Or maybe take a walk
1	James Fillmore	Molly playing infinite-dimensional chess
1	TJ Gorsegner	Berrios without sleeves, properly Grant-esque
1	SooFoo Fan	So nervous
1	SooFoo Fan	NOOOOOOOOOOO
1	Brandon Brooks	Welp
1	wayback	GOD DAMMIT HILDY
1	TeamCrazyMatt	And there goes the thing
1	EmeraldTwinkie	D'oh!
1	Brandon Brooks	Wonderful
1	James Fillmore	Just picture the audience in their underwear
1	James Fillmore	Very fun games so far this year
1	kenzertz	GO TWINS GO!!!
1	2wins87	Rosie's at least gotta hit in in the outfield here
1	James Fillmore	Rally beer time
1	CG19	Now it is
1	James Fillmore	We jinxed him
1	Brandon Brooks	It is now
1	TJ Gorsegner	Welp, this is sub-optimal
1	James Fillmore	That’s what he wants you to think
1	SooFoo Fan	They have veterans on the team and I'm sure they'll talk to him
1	James Fillmore	Sacrilege!
1	Brandon Brooks	Burlesque
1	Brandon Brooks	He didn't HAVE to
1	2wins87	He was whiffing a lot early on
1	TJ Gorsegner	11?!? I'm behind, I only got through the first six
1	Coach Farmer	WALKS BETTER DAMN WELL HAUNT
1	CG19	It's dark because there's no sun
1	TJ Gorsegner	Its encouraging to see that kind of contact though, with the slump he's in
1	SooFoo Fan	Don't take it out on your helmet, Logan
1	SooFoo Fan	I hope it's the one where Krypton is doomed
1	James Fillmore	None of the younglings here can remember that ad
1	Coach Farmer	Had a .091 BABIP so far
1	montanatwinsfan	These WCCO commercials are SO much less obnoxious than those Go93 commercials the past few years
1	James Fillmore	"Contact" by Carl Sagan
1	James Fillmore	He’s in there for defense
1	Brandon Brooks	Sounds awesome.
1	Brandon Brooks	Jose Berrios is a determined man
1	wayback	And one-two-three strikes you're out in the old ballgame
1	wayback	Suddenly De-Kepled
1	blackmankitteh	Kepler has had a number of really great at bats so far
1	SooFoo Fan	Oh my Berrios
1	TeamCrazyMatt	jo-SEEEEEE, joSE joSE joSE
1	2wins87	Was Kepler the one that should have been picked off the day?
1	wayback	Phew
1	TJ Gorsegner	HELP YOURSELF, JOSE!
1	TeamCrazyMatt	I see Leake is still a Single-Digit Pitcher(tm)(r)(omg)
1	wayback	Kepling his way to first base
1	wayback	We didn't make Leake work hard that inning
1	2wins87	Two of the balls in play were smoked though...
1	James Fillmore	I’ll bet the food is pretty awesome
1	James Fillmore	Buehrle-esque
1	Brandon Brooks	Instant rec for a Strat reference
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Mariners are rolling well
1	Theo77	Ouch.
1	Brandon Brooks	This has been one heck of a defensive game so far
1	2wins87	Damn
1	Brandon Brooks	He didn't like Berrios' 3-1 pitch that wound up a homer.
1	Coach Farmer	It probably is a fair criticism
1	Joel Hernandez	No but it plays cheesy music in the background
1	CG19	True
1	wayback	And the hits just keep on coming
1	wayback	Danny and Cory lost power to the booth
1	James Fillmore	Songs about love are more popular than songs about buildings & food
1	Coach Farmer	Does the bullpen cart come with a robot that grabs the beer for me so I don't miss the game?
1	wayback	Rally time
1	Coach Farmer	But I have to walk to fridge dammit
1	James Fillmore	Ichiro WTF
1	TeamCrazyMatt	*hitting lefty
1	James Fillmore	EE!
1	montanatwinsfan	hoo boy
1	mefoolonhill	Twins announcers
1	2wins87	God I love EE
1	TJ Gorsegner	fair enough
1	James Fillmore	Molitor...umm...
1	CG19	This inning is going great
1	wayback	YES! Keep it going guys
1	TeamCrazyMatt	ESCY
1	Brandon Brooks	DOUBLE-E, BABY!
1	Bb_referee	An image I'd like to remove from my mind.
1	Coach Farmer	Agree, keep it posi
1	SooFoo Fan	I think that error kinda messed him up
1	TeamCrazyMatt	And that would be
1	CG19	Hopefully Berrios can get out of this and still go another inning
1	EmeraldTwinkie	Blarg
1	TeamCrazyMatt	oh Poo
1	CG19	Bullpen game the Wild Card game
1	James Fillmore	Typical supervisor attitude
1	MNWildcat	What is on Bremer's head?!
1	CG19	This is looking ugly
1	TJ Gorsegner	The results would suggest that
1	TJ Gorsegner	Go Twins Go
1	TJ Gorsegner	Rumor says that "grass like substance" is actually grass
1	TeamCrazyMatt	Brockabrellas!
1	TJ Gorsegner	Fahrenheit?
1	TJ Gorsegner	Fire engine red...
1	James Fillmore	Umbrella hats!
1	Joel Hernandez	Just have all the players open up umbrellas while on the field
1	Joel Hernandez	When I see my plumber knock on my door
1	Coach Farmer	Yeah, I did not enjoy that
1	wayback	It's good to have pitchers who can control the ball just using The Force
1	Coach Farmer	Yeah, a cold Grossman over a hot Kepler