Cleveland 10, Twins 0: Mitch Garver was our best pitcher

Kyle Gibson didn’t have his best night tonight, giving up six runs over five innings, including two dongs. Matt Belisle made things worse, giving a position player the dubious distinction of the best pitcher in this gong-show of a game.

Cleveland pitcher Trevor Bauer started the night out in the first inning by sitting three Twins in a row down. It would set the tone for his night.

The tone for Gibson’s night was also set in the first. He walked Francisco Lindor and then gave up a single to Michael Brantley. Jorge Polanco missed the throw from the plate to second, and allowed both runners to advance. A sac fly and a ground ball later, and Gibson had a two-run hole to work out of.

The Twins at least got a base runner in the second, as Max Kepler walked, but that was all they did that inning too. Gibson pitched the first of a couple scoreless innings. The third was more of the same, with each team putting a runner on, and not scoring. The Twins half of the fourth went that way too. Unfortunately Gibby got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth.

In order, a home run, a walk, a double, and another home run put four Cleveland runs on the board, bringing the score to six-nothing, in favor of the bad guys. Neither Gibson nor Bauer would allow any runs in the fifth, either, but Matt Belisle had other plans.

Matt Belisle must have had an off night or something, even by his standards. In the sixth, he gave up the third dong of the night, to the first batter he faced. He walked the second guy, but escaped after a double play ball and a fly out. The seventh was worse for Belisle. He started the inning with back-to-back walks, and then gave up yet another dong to Edwin Encarnacion, to wrap up the scoring.

In the bottom of the eighth, with the Twins down by ten runs, Paul Molitor decided to save his bullpen, and send Mitch Garver to the mound. He may not be Chris Gimenez, but he got the job done. Garver gave up a single to Francisco Lindor, but lots of real, actual pitchers have done that. Otherwise it was a clean inning for the catcher-playing-pitcher.

Studs

Logan Forsythe 1-3

Jake Cave 1-3

Jorge Polanco at the plate 1-4

Mitch Garver 1IP, 1 H, 0R

Duds

The rest the offense: 0 hits

Jorge Polanco in the field: 1 error, leading to two unearned runs

Matt Belisle: 2 IP, 4 ER, 2 HR

Roll Call

CoTG

OtherPTBNL: You’ve revealed your own back story

Because that whole DnD conversation was way, way better than the actual game today.