Twins 8, Royals 5: Offense no longer offensive.

Nothing really happened in the first inning. Kansas City loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning. Lance Lynn worked out of the jam, and escaped unscathed. In the top of the third, the Twins answered by also loading up the bases, and not scoring.

Another couple innings passed quickly, with no harm done by either side. Lance Lynn did pitch around a lead off double in the bottom of the third, and men on first and second in the bottom of the fourth.

The Twins finally struck first in their half of the fifth inning. Brian Dozier hit a single into center field. Eddie Rosario struck out, and a big, big man came up to bat. Miguel Sano got a big, big hit. He deposited the ball over the center field wall. Jon Jay did a heck of a Torii Hunter impression, but was unable to rob Sano, and the score was suddenly two to nothing, in favor of the Twins.

Apparently, Lance Lynn doesn’t like things that easy, so he gave up another lead off double to Jon Jay, and then walked Whit Merrifield. A Mike Moustakas double over Byron Buxton’ head brought them both in, and tied things right back up with no one out. Garvin Alston must have said some magic words during a mound visit mid-inning, because Lynn stopped the bleeding right there.

A little bit of small ball in the sixth brought home another run for the Twins. Mitch Garver singled, and was advanced to second on an ugly sac bunt from Buxton. Garver then scored on a Brian Dozier single, taking the score to three to two.

In the seventh, Burch Smith replaced Junis for the Royals. Nothing really noteworthy happened, but I just wanted to use the name Burch Smith a couple times. Can you blame me?

Trevor Hildenberger gave up yet another lead off double to Jon Jay in the seventh. That’s three today, if you’re counting. Fortunately, Jay committed an act of TOOTBLAN on a roller to short, and Taylor Rogers came in with a man on first, just to get Mike Moustakas out. He did his job, so Molitor switched pitchers again, this time to Ryan Pressly. Molitor apparently wanted to see how many pitchers he could use in an inning? Salvador Perez hit the first pitch he saw to put men on first-and-third with two outs, but a ground ball to Eduardo Escobar ended that threat.

In the eighth inning, the Twins put up a nice looking crooked number, and gave their pitchers some breathing room. I get to say Burch Smith again, because he was the responsible pitcher for everything that happened this inning. Robbie Grossman singled, Mitch Garver walked, and then Brian Dozier hit another single to load things up. Red hot Eddie Rosario hit a double to plate all three of them, and good thing he did!

In the bottom of the eighth, Kansas City took two of those runs back against Zach Duke. A HBP and two singles (the second on a bunt,) plus a Duke throwing error allowed a run to score, and left runners on first-and-third with two outs. Fernando Rodney came into the game, attempting a 4-out save; and allowed the inherited runner to score from third before ending the inning with a strikeout.

Old friend Blaine Boyer came into the game for the ninth inning. Max Kepler threatened with a double, and made it to third when professional hitter Robbie Grossman hit a single and ended up on second with the throw to home. With two men in scoring position, Mitch Garver put a double into the right-center gap, and earned two more RBI’s.

Of course, the Fernando Rodney Experience is not without drama, so he allowed a solo home run to Jorge Soler in the bottom of the ninth. He didn’t allow any more damage, and ended up with a stupid save, due to the score when he entered the game.

STUDS

Brian Dozier 3-5 2 runs scored

Eddie Rosario 1-4 3 RBI

Mitch Garver 2-3 2 RBI

Lance Lynn 6IP 2 ER 5 K

DUDS

No Duds, TWINS WIN!!!

Robot Roll Call

COTG

Gunnarthor: I think we should win this one instead of losing

Good thing the team agreed, huh.

Hope you all had a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.