Twins 8, Tigers 3: The Kohl Stewart & C.J. Cron show.

The Minnesota Twins began this game looking to bounce back from a loss in the first half of todays double header. The first inning started off a bit rocky for Kohl Stewart who gave up a leadoff but got the next three guys out. He needed 20 pitches to end the inning without giving up a run.

Moving on to the bottom half, Miguel Cabrera was ejected for arguing strikes. The Gardenhire Effect. Ok back to the Twins. With one out, Marwin Gonzalez singled and advanced to third on a strange error. Cruz followed with a walk and then Rosario dropped an RBI single into center for an early 1-0 lead. Cron kept it going with a single to right but Cruz’s speed is like -7 MPH so the bases were loaded. Luckily, Kepler hit a sac fly to make it 2-0 Twins. Great start for the Twins.

Stewart ran into more trouble in the second, except this time he couldn't get out cleanly. After a walk, Jaimer Candelario golfed a two run homer into the flower bed. Stewart would give up another hit but ended the inning with a double play. In the Twins second inning Buxton hit a 113 MPH double with one out so Garver followed it up with an RBI triple making it 3-2 Twins. After another walk, Cruz came up and hit a sac fly making it 4-2 Twins.

The Tigers would go on to add another via an RBI single from Brandon Dixon but Kohl Stewart was able to end the inning still leading 4-3. The next inning and a half all the way up to the top of the fifth was when the pitchers settled down and finally had a couple clean innings. Still 4-3 Twins after 4 ¹⁄₂ innings.

In the Twins half of the fifth they started to break the game open a bit. After two soft singles by Cruz and Rosario, C.J. Cron smashed a 115.1 MPH home run into the left field seats. It was his eight of the year.

This was the literal definition of a line drive home run from Cron.

Kohl Stewart was sent back out for the sixth inning and he was able to finish it easily and qualify for a quality start. He retired 10 out of the last 11 hitters he faced. Stewart’s final line: 6.0 IP, 90 pitches/57 strikes (63.3% strikes) 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO. That is exactly what the Twins were asking out of him and he delivered a good ending on the back end of the double header. Back to the offense, Marwin Gonzalez led off the 6th inning for the Twins and hit a wall scraping 364 foot home run making it 8-3 Twins.

The first reliever out of the Twins bullpen was Matt Magill to begin the 7th. He began with a strikeout looking but followed that by giving up a pair of singled and then a swinging strikeout. Magill escaped the inning by getting a flyout. The Twins did not score in their half of the 8th so it remained 8-3 Twins.

Mike Morin was the next pitcher for the Twins. He had a quick and easy 1-2-3 inning to finish off the eighth inning.

Tyler Duffey came in for the final inning and had a very smooth inning by striking out the side. The Twins take game two of the double header by a score of 8-3!

Notes:

• Just one day after taking a knee to the head, Marwin Gonzalez returned to the lineup.
• Willians Astudillo is likely to be activated off the IL either tomorrow or Monday.
• Miguel Sano played his first AAA rehab game today. He went 0-4 with 3 K’s.
• The Twins have averaged over 25,000 in attendance this weekend after just 16,000 before this weekend. Good job Twins fans.

Studs:

• C.J. Cron: 4-5, 3 RBIs, HR
• Kohl Stewart: 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 K
• Marwin Gonzalez: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 R, HR
• Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 5 K, 0 ER

Duds:

None! Twins win! (Except Miguel Cabrera who was ejected in the 1st)

Win Probability Graph:

Roll Call: