Twins 12, Rays 0: Victory lap

As a gesture of goodwill, the Tampa Bay Rays handed the Twins 12 unanswered runs this evening, and if you ask me, I think that’s pretty swag.

It was pretty solid from the get-go. Max Kepler boinked a leadoff shot to open the first, a half-inning which would produce three more run-inducing PAs by the likes of Luis Arraez, Mitch Garver, and Miguel Sano.

The third inning would unfold in similar fashion; Arraez had another RBI (his second round-tripper) of the year, and Simmons knocked a single with runners on. As a whole, the team produced a solid demonstration of why Michael Wacha has a bWAR in the negatives this season, and why he might wanna Wacha his bad self back home.

Some other key offensive contributions included homers from Ryan Jeffers (10 on the season) and Brent Rooker, who had another couple hits tonight and is extending a solid week of production.

As for the pitching, the 12-0 final should give you the gist, but I’ll elaborate out of the goodness of my heart and the word count of the Chorus editor. Kenta Maeda turned in six innings of three-hit ball, before turning it over to that vaunted bullpen one-two punch of “Garza, Jr.” and “Coulombe”, who spun three more shutout innings to seal the deal.

What a team. What a ride. What a season.

STUDS:

SP Kenta Maeda (6 IP, 3 H, BB, 4 K)

RF Max Kepler (1-for-3, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, HR)

LF Brent Rooker (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR)

3B Luis Arraez (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, HR)

Twins catchers (3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR)

DUDS:

Get outta here.

ROBOT ROLL CALL: