Twins 5, Brewers 3: Smeltzer shines; seventh inning outburst scores win

“And the ball is hit deep to X field... back goes Y aaaaaand... caught on the warning track,” was the phrase of the night during tonight’s contest between the Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers, and what a weird and great contest it was.

Zeros were traded between Twins starter Devin Smeltzer and Brewers starter Zach Davies for six innings. I’m not sure if there’s a word to describe Smeltzer’s major-league debut. He certainly spun a gem for his first start and was basically on cruise control all night against a great Milwaukee lineup. He allowed only three runners on base across six innings of work. In the second inning, Yasmani Grandal lead off with a deep fly ball to left-center field that resulted in a triple after Byron Buxton leapt up to make a play and crashed down to the earth without making the catch. Buxton ended up leaving the game after a being on the ground for a couple moments, but was able to walk off the field on his own. A strike-out, ground-out, and fly-out would leave Grandal stranded at third base and keeping the score at zero.

Orlando Arcia would get a hit off of Smeltzer in the third, but would not advance any further; the fourth inning would start with a double by Ryan Braun, who would be doubled off of a funky catch by Max Kepler. Kepler would drop the ball during the transfer and Braun, who thought that the ball was dropped, was called out after Kepler threw the ball back to Jorge Polanco, who stepped on second base. Smeltzer would cap off his start with two strikeouts in the top of the sixth. His victims: Lorenzo Cain and home-run leader Christian Yelich. Smeltzer left the game after six innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven.

Davies had a great evening of his own, keeping Twins hitters in check. He also went six innings, yielding five hits, issuing two walks, and striking out four batters. The Twins’ best chance to score during Davies’ outing was in the bottom of the third, when Willians Astudillo singled and Polanco followed with a single of his own two batters later. A line-out and fly-out would end that threat.

After the sixth inning, the Twins got to work at the plate. The bottom of the seventh was started off with a Jason Castro single off of Brewers reliever Alex Claudio, followed by a La Tortuga fielder’s choice on a play where I think Keston Hiura threw at Castro and it hit him and ended up in the outfield somewhere. Castro ended up at third with La Tortuga at second. Ehire Adrianza came in to pinch run for Castro and Tawny’s future husband and newly-appointed AL Player of the Week Max Kepler hit a double to right field, scoring both Adrianza and Astudillo and the Twins lead 2-0.

Claudio got the hook and Junior Guerra was given a chance to put the fire out, but C.J. Cron had something else in mind as he doubled to center field, plating Kepler. With the crowd chanting “EDDIE! EDDIE!”, Eddie Rosario delivered the dagger: a mashed tater to right field in an electric moment, capping off a crooked number in the inning with the Twins leading 5-0.

The Brewers chipped away at the lead with what little time they had left in the game. Matt Magill took care of the seventh inning after giving up a double to Braun. Blake Parker took the reigns in the eighth inning and came out of the gates giving up a single to Hernan Perez and a homer to Hiura, making the game a 5-2 contest still in favor of the Twins. Yet after a strike-out of Yelich and a ground-out of Braun, Parker preserved the lead.

The ninth inning was lead off by Grandal and he promptly homered to the left field seats off of Taylor Rogers, making the score 5-3, Twins. Rogers recovered and struck out Mike Moustakas on three pitches and Jesus Aguilar on five pitches before yielding the game to Ryne Harper, who got Perez to pop out and end the game.

The Twins split this series with the Brewers and look forward to an off day tomorrow before traveling to Tampa Bay for a four-game set with the Rays.

Twins 5, Brewers 3
W: Magill (1-0)
L: Claudio (1-2)
S: Harper (1)

NOTES:

• Buxton is day-to-day with a bruised right knee.
• Rosario added to his league-leading RBI total at 47 RBIs.
• The Twins have now hit 56 homers in the month of May, breaking the team record for the number of homers hit by the team in a month in team history. The previous record was 55 homers by the 1964 Twins team in May of that season.
• Harper notches his first save of his MLB career and he becomes the fifth Twins pitcher to earn the S this season (Parker 8, Rogers 4, Hildenberger 1, Morin 1).

STUDS:

• Devin Smeltzer: 6 IP, 3 H, 7 K
• Max Kepler: 1-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, K
• C.J. Cron: 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB, K
• Eddie “La Bomba” Rosario: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR
• Devin Smeltzer again.

duds:

• no duds: tWINs

COMMENT OF THE GAME THREAD:

Uncle Lincoln notes that Yelich was held to no hits and a single RBI these two games. Not too shabby, indeed.

ROLL CALL:

Thanks to everyone for joining the game thread tonight!