Marlins 5, Twins 2: No relief to be found

For a long time, it was close. Then Miami teed off on Minnesota’s bullpen, and it suddenly wasn’t.

Before the pain, a breezy five innings (completed in an hour) saw the Twins with nary a strong chance to push across a run while playing catch-up for most of the game, as Jorge Soler, Miami’s second man up, sent a ball over Willi Castro’s head in left and over the wall for a fishy 1-0 lead.

Their first notable chance to score came in the top of the sixth, when with two outs and men on first and second, Donovan Solano lined a shot headed for the left field corner. Unfortunately, Miami third baseman Jean Segura kept the ball in the infield, and Jose Miranda flew to center to leave the bags full.

An inning later, though, Trevor Larnach followed a Ryan Jeffers double with a two-out RBI single to get the Twins on the board before the stretch.

Meanwhile, Pablo López shook off the Soler homer to breeze through Miami’s lineup, allowing just two other hits and no runs through his seven innings of work.

Unfortunately, López’s departure spelled trouble for the Twins. Griffin Jax entered for the eighth and got one out before allowing two singles; Caleb Thielbar entered to set up a lefty-lefty matchup with pinch hitter Luis Arraez, and won that matchup with a strikeout. But Brian De La Cruz singled home one run before Soler launched his second home run of the game to give Miami a 5-1 lead.

The Twins added a run in the ninth on an A.J. Puk wild pitch, but it didn’t matter, as home plate umpire Andy Fletcher called Trevor Larnach out on strikes, with called strikes 2 and 3 both off the plate, to end the game.

Unrelatedly, seeing López breezing through lineups makes me glad to finally see a Twins pitcher wearing No. 49 who is actually good. Look at this list and observe how long it’s been:

Also, it’s impossible to read the red text on the Twins’ navy uniforms except in close-up, and that bothers me.

STUDS:

SP Pablo López: 7 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 8 K, 88 pitches

the number 49: it looks cool, and is also a perfect square

DUDS:

RPs Griffin Jax / Caleb Thielbar: combined 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 K

HP umpire Andy Fletcher: at least 4 missed ball-strike calls against Minnesota, including the final two called strikes of the game

bases-loaded hitting attempts: some things never change

The graphic designer who put dark red text on a navy background

Comment of the Game goes to Joel and his “graphic” “design” “skills.”