This one felt like Opposite Day — a topsy-turvy, lead-change-y affair. The Twins led for most of tonight, but Oakland still retained almost all of the momentum, and ultimately came away with the victory.
On one side of the ball, Jose Berrios slogged his way through 113 pitches in under six innings. He walked three guys, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, and only struck out four.
On the other side, Brett Anderson was wheelin’ and dealin’, economically carving his way through the lineup and retiring 14 men in a row at one point. After the first inning, the Twins didn’t have a hit until the seventh.
And yet, through six innings of play, Minnesota was up 2-0.
Both pitchers struggled in the first inning, but while Jose Berrios struck out three men to avoid giving up any runs, Anderson gave up a leadoff homer to Mitch Garver and another solo shot to Nelson Cruz just two batters later. Despite all the momentum residing squarely in Anderson’s arm from then on, the Twins had still touched him for the lead.
With an uncharacteristically laborious Berrios only able to get 17 outs tonight, the A’s capitalized on the Minnesota bullpen. A pair of seventh-inning homers — one for Mark Canha and another for Ramon Laureano — put Oakland on top by a run.
The Twins, thankfully, would take this as a much-needed shock to their system. Miguel Sano absolutely obliterated a ball into the third deck to lead off the home seventh, and a pair of singles set Jonathan Schoop up for an RBI sac fly, giving the Twins a 4-3 lead.
With a one-run lead, Minnesota turned to dependably dominant Taylor Rogers to lock down the win. But with two outs and nobody on base, the A’s strung together a last-minute rally. Canha was hit by the pitch, and Laureano doubled into the left field corner to put two men in scoring position.
Following this, Khris Davis smoked one against the shift, and right off of Ehire Adrianza, who would have been seriously lauded if he had caught the whistling missile off the bat. It kicked off into shallow right, and both runners were able to come around and score. 5-4 Oakland, just like that.
Old friend Liam Hendriks came in for the ninth and tried to do what Rogers couldn’t.
But the Twins weren’t done.
After a one-out single, Schoop doubled down the left field line — and I mean right on down that line. The ball bounced into foul ground having just nicked a patch of grass on the right side of the chalk line.
Pinch-hitter Eddie Rosario was walked, which brought up Mitch Garver, down one, with the bases full.
He made solid contact on the first pitch, but it was directly at the shortstop, who started a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and crush everyone’s dreams.
Thankfully, Cleveland didn’t win either, but it’s a real tough loss for the Twins tonight, and they’ll need to come away with a W tomorrow afternoon to avoid losing the home series to the Oakland A’s.
STUDS:
3B Miguel Sano (2-for-3, R, RBI, HR, BB)
DUDS:
RF-LF Marwin Gonzalez (0-for-4, K)
RP Zack Littell (0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER)
RP Taylor Rogers (1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER)
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