Astros 4, Twins 2: Offensive struggles continue

A struggling Twins lineup ran into the seemingly impervious Justin Verlander and it went about how you’d expect. The future hall of famer threw 6 no-hit innings, notching 10 strikeouts and 0 walks along the way. The only blemish, if you can call it that, was a dropped third strike allowing Nick Gordon to reach base in the 2nd. That was followed by two more strikeouts.

The Astros got their first run in the 2nd inning on an RBI single by Mauricio Dubon. In the 4th, they got back to back doubles by Kyle Tucker and Trey Mancini to make it a 2-0 game.

Twins starter Aaron Sanchez had been pitching fairly well as we went to the 5th, but hit Jose Altuve with a pitch to start the inning. Altuve took exception to this, and the benches did clear but no fights broke out, and Carlos Correa even tried to calm both Altuve and Sanchez down. Rocco Baldelli came out during this time and at some point was on the mound talking to his pitcher and catcher. The umpires called this a mound visit. Sanchez walked the next batter, so pitching coach Pete Maki came out to talk to him. At this point the Twins were unaware that they had already used a mound visit, and so by rule Sanchez had to exit the game. Rocco was not pleased with this, to say the least, and spent a good amount of time yelling at the umpire, and he was ejected from the game.

To his credit, Cole Sands did a great job of working out of that jam, getting Kyle Tucker to hit into a double play to end the threat with the score still at 2-0.

The Twins didn’t get their first hit until the 7th, when Carlos Correa broke it up against the newly entered Ryne Stanek. Two strikeouts and a lineout later that inning was done, though.

Alex Bregman doubled the Astros lead to 4-0 with a 2-run blast to left off of Trevor Magill in the bottom of the 7th.

In the 8th, Max Kepler hit a double, and Gio Urshela singled, advancing him to 3rd. That rally was quickly ended, though, as Jake Cave struck out and Gary Sanchez grounded into an inning ending double play.

In the top of the 9th inning, Jose Miranda hit an RBI single to end the shutout. Then, with 2 outs, Kepler hit an RBI single of his own to make it a 4-2 game. Gio Urshela walked to fill the bases, but Cave struck out on three pitches to end the game.

Notes:

• Nick Gordon left the game after feeling light headed in the 6th.
• Cole Sands left the game in the 7th after getting hit on the elbow.

Studs:

Max Kepler: 2-4, RBI

Carlos Correa: 1-4, broke up a no-hitter

Gio Urshela 1-3, BB

Duds:

Jake Cave: 0-4, 4 SO

Gary Sanchez: 0-3, SO, GIDP

Trevor Magill: 1.0 IP, gave up a 2-run homer

Thanks for joining the game thread everyone, sorry it was another loss!