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Today’s lineups:
MIN: Max Kepler RF, Ehire Adrianza 2B, Jorge Polanco SS, Miguel Sano 3B, Josh Donaldson DH, Eddie Rosario LF, Mitch Garver C, Marwin Gonzalez 1B, Byron Buxton CF, Kenta Maeda P
COL: Sam Hilliard RF, David Dahl LF, Nolan Arenado 3B, Trevor Story SS, Daniel Murphy 1B, Brendan Rodgers 2B, Tony Wolters C, Ryan McMahon DH, Peter Bourjos CF, Kyle Freeland P
For the second start in a row, Kenta Maeda threw a shutout, and his teammates put seven runs on the board. How’s that for a statistical oddity. Today’s performance was even better than he one he showed against the Yankees—this is the guy you trade Brusdar Graterol for and don’t regret it.
If you take Maeda’s 6.2 inning performance, and add in the 2.1 innings thrown by Caleb Thielbar to close it out, you end up with seven hits, two walks, and fifteen strikeouts. Maeken gave up six of the hits and both walks, while racking up ten of the strikeouts.
On the other side, Kyle Freeland also pitched 6.2 innings, and several of them were scoreless, but the Twins got the better of him. The first two batters he faced were enough for the Twins tonight. Max Kepler led off the game with a double, and then Ehire Adrianza hit a flyball into the left field bleachers that gave the Twins a two-run lead.
The Twins added two more runs in the sixth inning. Jorge Polanco opened the frame by singling. Miguel Sano took a walk. Eddie Rosario drove both runners in with a big double to make the score four-to-nothing. After Mitch Garver was intentionally walked, Rosario was thrown out at the plate by Sam Hilliard, trying to score on a single hit by Marwin Gonzalez.
After escaping the sixth with only two runs scored, the seventh would prove to be even rockier (see what I did there) for Freeland. Ehire Adrianza hit a one-out double, and then Jorge Polanco wore an inside pitch to put two on. After Miguel Sano struck out, Josh Donaldson stepped up to the plate, and mashed the first pitch he saw to deep left field for three more runs, and the final score.
Notes
- Byron Buxton is up to 11 stolen bases on the season. Sam Hilliard stole two bases and Peter Bourjos stole one for the Rockies. Neither of them had a stolen base coming into the game.
STUDS:
Ehire Adrianza: 2-4, double, HR, 2 RBI
Josh Donaldson: 3-4, HR, 3 RBI
Kenta Maeda: 6.2 IP, 10 K, 0 runs.
DUDS:
No duds, Twins win!
Tomorrow: Game three with the Rockies. 1:10 pm First pitch