Yep, the Minnesota Twins lost yet another playoff game. (At least it was to the Houston Astros and not the you-know-which-team-I’m-talking-about.) Yep, we’re going to go through the top five plays that defined the outcome of the game. And yep, there’s a poll at the end of this to express your opinion.
1. Eddie Rosario lines out, Miguel Sano grounds out with the bases loaded to end the first inning.
The Twins batters had Astros starter Zack Greinke on thin ice right away. After a ground out by Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton singled and stole second base. Max Kepler drew a walk, and Nelson Cruz did the same to load up the bases. Even though contact was made, Rosario and Sano could not keep the line moving as Minnesota put up a goose egg with the bases juiced.
2. Josh Reddick struck out to end the fourth inning.
Like the Twins did to Greinke, the Astros offense had Twins starter Kenta Maeda with his back against the wall. A walk by Alex Bregman, a single by Kyle Tucker, and a walk by Carlos Correa had the bases full of ‘Stros with the Twins up 1-0 at this point. Maeda worked his magic and pulled the string on Reddick to get out of the jam.
3. Twins offense goes down 1-2-3 with two runners on in Framber Valdez’s first inning of work.
Greinke left after the fourth inning and Dusty Baker went to Valdez. After issuing back-to-back walks to Marwin Gonzalez and Arraez, Buxton, Kepler, and Cruz went down in order to end any chance of tacking on some additional runs before the Twins went to their own bullpen.
4. Jorge Polanco commits a throwing error in the top of the ninth with two out.
After being tagged with an E only twice this season, Polanco committed a huge error in the top of the ninth inning with runners on first and second with two out. George Springer hit a rocket one-hopper to Polo, who went on to throw off target to Arraez and therefore unable to catch the ball and get the force-out to end the inning. Instead, the bases were loaded with two out.
5. Sergio Romo walks in a run; Michael Brantley hits a two-run single two batters after the error.
Romo could not put away Jose Altuve and ended up walking in a run to give Houston a 2-1 lead. Skipper Rocco Baldelli called upon Caleb Thielbar to put out the fire, but Brantley hit a liner to center field that scored two runs, bringing us to the final score of 4-1.
Poll
What was the most defining moment of the Twins’ loss in Game 1?
This poll is closed
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19%
Twins squandering scoring opportunity in first inning
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0%
Maeda fans Reddick to end the threat in the fourth
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3%
Twins go down in order in the fifth with two men on
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69%
Polanco’s E6 in the ninth
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7%
Romo walks in a run + Brantley’s two-run single