Twins 16, Cubs 3: King Louie V

In the history books, King Louis V of France is known as Louis The Do-Nothing for his regal debauchery and inability to produce a direct heir to the throne (maybe a good thing, in the long run). Today, however, it was the Chicago Cubs bats that generated most of the nothingness as Minnesota’s own King Louie (Varland) took center stage.

The North St. Paul native and Concordia University alum went 6.1 innings this Mother’s Day afternoon, with solo home runs from Christopher Morel & and Seiya Suzuki the only real blemishes (a third earned run was charged as a result of Emilio Pagan’s brand of dark arts).

Only helping matters was that after a Kirilloff-Correa ambush in the bottom of the 1st for a 1-0 advantage, the Twins did this in the 3rd...

• Correa single
• Buxton single
• Larnach home run
• Farmer double
• Gordon double
• Vazquez single
• Gallo home run

Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

After the aforementioned Pagan messiness in the top of the 7th, the Twins immediately “changed the number” in the bottom of the frame when a Farmer single plated Buxton. They did it again in the 8th when everyone—Kirilloff, Polanco, & Larnach—just kept doubling down the RF line. Then the Cubs inserted position player Miles Mastrobuoni on the mound and things got out of hand.

On the back end, dual Jorges—Lopez & Alcala—closed out this laugher.

Your final: Twins 16, Cubs 3. The Twins take the series and head to Dodger Stadium for some Twinkie Town After Dark (TM) this week.

Studs:

• Varland’s solid presence in the rotation despite the oddity of having made more MLB appearances than AAA starts in his young career thus far.
• The entire offense. It’s too bad some of those runs couldn’t be banked for the upcoming Dodgers series!
• Moms everywhere, who will of course support their children no matter the outcome (juice boxes and Icees after the game, everyone!). It was especially nice to see Marney Gellner—having just received a breast cancer-free diagnosis—back at the ballpark chatting with Dick & Justin in the TV booth.

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images

Duds:

• Me, for attending the first game of each of the Padres/Cubs series—but no others.

Comment of the Game:

• Wannabe525 looked into his crystal ball—perhaps purloined from Pagan?—before the game and predicted an outpouring of run support for Louie Varland.