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It was a Saturday night baseball game depicting a late season pennant hunt. Two divisional rivals, pitting their balls and running out of balls, as familiarity and fatigue continue to rage.
Both teams exchanged shots with a pair of points in the first set. Eddie Rosario came close to 30 dingers with another quick two point shot. Then, in a weird house, Lewis Thorpe opened the way for a guy, allowed a double, a single RBI, walks back to back (the latter scoring the equalizer), then eliminated the next three batters.
Thorpe struggled to find the strike zone of the whole tonight, finally marching at four, catching a wild pitch and barely managing a 50% hit rate. But he was still able to survive Cleveland's departure option, Tyler Clippard. Clippard pitched two frames, while Thorpe was invited to pitch in the fourth (and would have likely lasted longer if the game was under control.)
At the time, this was not the case. A third-set circuit, Jordan Luplow, announced even more problems in the fourth, when three hits in two sets (including another one, Oscar Mercado) precipitated the release of Thorpe in favor of Cody Stashak.
The 5-2 lead at Cleveland was no longer threatened before the sixth. The 37th player of the year Nelson Cruz scored himself and Jorge Polanco allowed the Twins to get closer to a goal.
In the eighth inning, Jonathan Schoop chose to lead Adam Cimber, who was immediately eliminated by Oliver Perez. After Kepler replaced Schoop on the baspaths through the choice of the field player, Polanco doubled his teammates to tie the game.
An intentional march towards Nelson Cruz and an unintentional pass to Eddie Rosario allowed Miguel Sano to embark on a busy base. The twins, as noted, have been unusually quiet with all the ducks on the pond this season, with only one grand slam (Byron Buxton) under their belt.
Before tonight
On the first pitch, Miguel Sano scored a decisive center-left opening the scoring, opening the Minnesota lead to 9-5. Signal the fireworks, the crazy cheers and the sighs of relief.
The rearguard would keep up with a relatively calm one-and-a-half, ensuring Minnesota's 91st win over the 2019 season.
There is still a lot of baseball to play, but it is quite possible to return to the Sano circuit as a success that ended Cleveland's shot at the division. The lead has been pushed to 5.5 games, and a pair of unlikely wins driven by outstanding performances at the Bullpen should give both players and fans the confidence that this team can make noise in October.
Heck, we could always consider a team of 100 wins.
STUDS:
The Bullpen, AGAIN (5.1 IP, 1 H, 6 K)
SS Jorge Polanco (3 for 5, 3 R, RBI, 2B)
DH Nelson Cruz (1 for 3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR)
3B Miguel Sano (1 for 4, R, 4 RBI, HR)
NIPPES:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!
ROBOT ROLL CALL:
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