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Today’s lineups:
MIN: Max Kepler CF, Ehire Adrianza SS, Nelson Cruz DH, Miguel Sano 1B, Eddie Rosario LF, Josh Donaldson 3B, Marwin Gonzalez 2B, Alex Avila C, Willians Astudillo RF, Randy Dobnak P
LAA: Tommy Pham LF, Anthony Rendon 3B, Shohei Ohtani RF, Mike Trout CF, Jared Walsh 1B, Jason Castro C, Brian Goodwin DH, Andrelton Simmons SS, David Fletcher 2B, Julio Tehran P
The Twins had five hits tonight. Max Kepler had three. Unfortunate.
With those five hits, the Twins collected 11 total bases, and had some hard-hit balls, but Julio Tehran mostly avoided trouble tonight. Eddie Rosario collected his one hit of the night in the fourth to put the Twins on the board, with a solo bomba. Josh Donaldson smacked a double in the second, but was left stranded. Kepler hit two doubles (in the third and eighth innings) and a single. The other Twins run of the night came without a hit. In the ninth, reliever Kevin Shackelford (no word on if he’s related to Rusty) walked the bases loaded, and then left the game. His replacement was Ty Buttrey, and Marwin Gonzalez hit a sac fly on Buttrey’s first pitch that allowed Miguel Sano to trot home. That was it. Literally all the offense today.
For the Angels, it was a case of chipping away at Randy Dobnak. In the first, Anthony Rendon wore a 0-1 pitch, moved to third on a single by Ohtani, and then came home on a single by Jared Walsh. Basically more-of-same occurred in the third, this time Mike Trout was on second after doubling, when Walsh brought him home on another single.
In the top of the fourth, the Angels played the “hit a bunch of singles in a row” game against Dobnak, and put two more on the board. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but Sean Poppen let two more runners cross the plate in the seventh. One runner was credited to Sergio Romo, and the other, once again Jared Walsh, to Poppen. With Rendon on second, Walsh smacked the first pitch he saw and landed it in the stands.
Notes
- Tyler Clippard was injured in after one batter in the seventh. He’s going to miss 1-2 weeks with an oblique strain
- There is now a 3-way tie for first in the AL Central
STUDS:
Max Kepler: 3-4, 2 doubles
Tyler Duffey: 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 2 K
DUDS:
Uhm, literally everyone else. I’m getting grumpy about the losses lately.
Tomorrow: Game three of four with the Angels. First pitch 6:15 pm (look for a recap around 10 pm)