Game 5: Twins at Tigers

First Pitch: 1210p Central
Telly: Bally Sports North, MLB Network (for those that are out-of-market)
Radio: W-C-C-O 830 AM, KMNB 102.9 FM “The Wolf”, Treasure Island Baseball Network, some thing called Audacy, damn kids and their new things
Know the Foe: Bless You Boys

Greetings and salutations! It’s your substitute game thread/recap writer here. It’s my first one this season, so please: no spitballs, no chewing gum, and yes, you have to raise your hand to ask if you can go to the bathroom. I don’t make the rules.

The Minnesota Twins are coming off of a slugfest win yesterday against the Detroit Tigers and look to extend their winning streak to four games. No, Byron Buxton is not back in the lineup, but he could be used later in the game. Josh Willingham Donaldson is on a treadmill, whatever that is, and taking batting practice today. I assume those things are not being done at the same time.

The Tigers are giving Casey Mize the nod today. When I went over to Bless You Boys to get the URL to put at the top of this thread, the main article read: “Detroit vs. Minnesota Preview: Casey Mize has a shot to prove he should stay in the rotation”, so it sounds like the Twins have the upper hand today. The young right-hander made his MLB debut last year, posting a 6.99 ERA/6.57 FIP in seven starts and 28.1 innings pitched. I’ll leave it at that, but the Detroit faithful still trust in the 23-year-old to be a part of their rebuild.

Rocco Baldelli will give the ball to J. A. Happ, who will be making his Twins debut. The southpaw is far from young in the baseball universe, but possibly still effective. In his two-plus seasons with the Evil Empire, his last team, he posted a 4.13 ERA/4.87 FIP over 50 starts and 274.1 innings of work. His spring training numbers looked “not good”, but you know what they say about those types of numbers.

See you on the flip side, and GO TWIMS GO!