The Twins flipped the script on Cleveland tonight, winding up victors in a game reminiscent of Thursday’s national broadcast.
For the most part, the Cleveland pitching held up; but as Lindor spoiled a Jose Berrios pitch two days ago, so too did Miguel Sano take starter Carlos Carrasco yard in the third inning. It was the first of two bombas for the slugger; another shot off his bat in the fifth made the score 3-0 Twins, after teammate Eddie Rosario had served up an oppo taco in the fourth inning.
While three round-trippers took a bite out of Cookie, new addition Kenta Maeda was busy serving up stuff so sweet you had to lick the spoon.
After Francisco Lindor worked a first-inning walk, Maeda locked in. The visitors wouldn’t see another baserunner until a bang-bang infield single in the fifth; all the while, Maeda generated frequent whiffs and uncertain at-bats on the back of his on-pitch tonight, a diving, split-grip changeup.
Maeda exited after six near-perfect innings, retiring 17 of his last 18 opponents.
From there, it was a cozy night in with the shutdown bullpen we’ve grown accustomed to within the last week. Trevor May had a scoreless seventh, with a leadoff single and two-out walk accounting for Cleveland’s only rally of the night. Cody Stashak pitched around a two-out walk of his own in the eighth.
After a particularly economical Friday night, Taylor Rogers returned for another save opportunity this evening. He got Lindor on one pitch (thanks to Ehire Adrianza’s nifty hot corner snag), then induced consecutive strikeouts to Carlos Santana and Franmil Reyes to lock it down.
The Twins improve to 6-2 after the win, and could take three of the series’ four games with another victory on Sunday afternoon.
STUDS:
SP Kenta Maeda (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, BB, 6 K)
The bullpen (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K)
LF Eddie Rosario (1-for-3, HR)
1B Miguel Sano (2-for-3, 2 HR)
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!
ROBOT ROLL CALL:
# | Commenter | # Comments |
---|---|---|
1 | Joefishy | 35 |
2 | CCHOF5yearstoolate | 30 |
3 | Brandon Brooks | 16 |
4 | CG19 | 12 |
5 | gintzer | 8 |
6 | Joel Hernandez | 6 |
7 | gonzobob | 6 |
8 | James Fillmore | 5 |
9 | montanatwinsfan | 5 |
10 | Imakesandwichesforaliving | 4 |
11 | GophNYC | 4 |
12 | traj737 | 3 |
13 | doomsdayshark | 2 |
14 | SooFoo Fan | 1 |
15 | Matt Monitto | 1 |
16 | Can't Read Good | 1 |
17 | Coach Farmer | 1 |
COTG: Can’t Read Good reminds us that even though the Bringer of Rain was out tonight, there’s still a little electricity in the forecast...