Game 24, 4-21-20

Coming off a tough loss to Seattle at home the Twins wanted to rectify that in game 2. Chacin (0-0) Vs. Marco Gonzalez (3-2). Game highlights below:

• Bottom of the 2nd - Donaldson hit a single. Garver got on base due to an error by Marco Gonzalez. Jake Cave came up big with a huge double to right field scoring Donaldson. Adrianza walked. Then Polanco hit into a double play, one of what seems like a very small handful this year for the Twins. Twins lead 1-0
  
• Bottom of the 3rd - No runs for the Twins but Kepler keeps crushing, with a well hit double. His slugging percentage is at an outstanding .608 Twins lead 1-0
  
• Top of the 4th - Chacin, who is having a rough season, had been cruising through the first three innings. In the 4th he found himself in a bit of trouble. Dee Gordon led off with a single. Vogelbach got walked after Gordon stole 2nd. Then J.P. Crawford got hit by a pitch. Bases loaded with no outs. Bullpen is warming up. Chacin gets Haniger to ground back to him where he forced out Gordon at home. Then he induced Seager to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to get out of that nasty jam. Twins lead 1-0
  
• Bottom of the 4th - A wild pitch got Donaldson into scoring position after his lead off single. Next batter Kepler knocked him in with a single. The Twins then got the bases loaded. Buxton hit a deep fly ball to Mallex Smith who threw a perfect throw to get Garver tagging up at home. Twins lead 2-0
  
• Top of the 5th - Dylan Moore was the first batter for Seattle, before Chacin could get through Moore's at bat he got injured and had to leave the game. Clippard came in for Chacin and struck out the side. Chacin is out for 3 weeks and the Twins called up Matt Wisler. It is unknown if they will go with Dobnak or Wisler with the 5th rotation spot. Twins lead 2-0
  
• Top of the 8th - Clippard pitched great in his emergency appearance. The only time he got slightly in trouble, he got Seager to hit into his second 4-6-3 double play of the game. Romo came in with two outs in the eighth and almost blew it, giving up a double when a man was on first, and then a walk. He got the next batter out having Seattle leave the bases loaded in a clutch situation. Twins lead 2-0
  
• 9th inning - In the top of the 9th, Sano led things off with a double but that was all the Twins could muster and they could not pad their lead with more production this inning. Romo stayed in for the 9th. Rogers must be in the dog house with Baldelli or Wes Johnson despite giving up 0 earned runs in 10.1 innings, as the staff has had a couple questionable late game pitching calls recently. J.P. Crawford started it out with a single for the Mariners. But then Romo got the next three batters, K, Foul out to 1st, and another K for his second save on the season.
  

TWINS WIN 2-0

Marco Gonzalez got the tough loss for the Mariners as he really stymied the Twins this game. A couple hits here and there did him in. Chacin, who has been a mess this season, actually looked great here - 4 IP, 2 H, 3 K. It's too bad he is out for three weeks as I'd love to see if he turned it around his next few starts. By the time Chacin recovers, Pineda will be back taking his roster spot. Tyler Clippard got his 1st win of the season. He struck out 6 of the 12 batters he faced. It was a pretty ho-hum game, but nice to see the Twins bounce back with a shut out win.

Minnesota 17-7 _ 2nd place, 2.5 games behind Cleveland

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/GameRecap.aspx?OrgID=116202&GameID=dfcb33a768754291b9481f2ee5e67bb3&ReportType=1

Other League News

Astros shortstop Aledmys Diaz is also out for three weeks. Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras is out for two weeks. Josh Phegley replaced Contreras and hit a home run for the Cubbies (15-8) who got the win. The Braves (13-12) and Diamondbacks (11-12) were locked up in a tight game. In the 7th inning the Braves Travis d'Arnaud knocked in the tying run on an error, and in the bottom of the 9th he knocked in the winning run with a walk off single. The Phillies (16-8) took down the struggling Rangers (6-17) in a walk-off as well. This one was a little more exciting though as Jay Bruce hit the game winning solo home run. Indians watch: They won again (20-5) destroying Oakland (14-10). They seem to win every day we do. The Pirates won (9-14)...nothing exciting to report in the game, but I did just watch the Dock Ellis documentary, "No No: A Dockumentary" today on Amazon Prime...it's a super good baseball documentary and I I highly recommend it!

Twins Player Stats & More

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/TeamStats.aspx?OrgID=116202&TeamID=10&Report=0&GameType=0&Splits=0