Game Thread 4/20: Seattle Mariners (7-16) @ Minnesota Twins (12-10) 6:40pmCT

[thuuuuney]

Catch-up
The Twins win the opening series of the home-stand but don't get the sweep as the former Twins Cj Cron and Jonathan Schoop rally in the 9th to win a thriller 9-8 for Detroit. But today the lineup card turns over to the Seattle Mariners as the Twins will begin a four game set and look to blaze it up and sweep Seattle for the second time this year.

 

Pre-game
6:10pmCT

 

Where to watch
https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/

 

AL Central Standings

1. Indians 17-7 
2. Twins 12-10 
3. Royals 12-10 
4. White Sox 9-14 
5. Tigers 5-17

 

Starting Pitchers

 

Seattle: Justus Sheffield 0-2. 10.80 ERA, 11.2P, 7 K's
Minnesota: Homer Bailey** 0-1, 1.61 ERA, 22.1IP, 21 K's
**= Homer Bailey: 4th in AL, ERA (1.61).

 

Detroit Batting Order

 

1. 2B Dee Gordon .311 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI
2. CF Mallek Smith .253 BA, 2 HR, 9 RBI
3. RF Mitch Haniger .267 BA, 5 HR, 12 RBI
4. 1B Daniel Vogelbach .230 BA, 2 HR, 4RBI
5. C Tom Murphy .224 BA, 3 HR, 8 RBI
6. 3B Kyle Seager .197 BA, 5 HR, 6 RBI
7. LF Braden Bishop .279 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI
8. SS J.P. Crawford .203 BA, 4 HR, 12 RBI
9. DH Dylan Moore .185 BA, 1 HR, 4 RBI

Minnesota Batting Order

 

1. RF Max Kepler .229 BA, 5 HR, 8 RBI
2. SS Jorge Polanco .281 BA, 2 HR, 12 RBI
3. 3B Josh Donaldson .298 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI
4. DH Nelson Cruz .277 BA, 4 HR, 14 RBI
5. 1B Miguel Sano* .265 BA, 6 HR, 11 RBI
6. LF Eddie Rosario .267 BA, 3 HR, 11 RBI
7. C Mitch Garver .243 BA, 4 HR, 10 RBI
8. 2B Luis Arraez .294 BA, 1 HR, 4 RBI
9. CF Byron Buxton .229 BA, 4 HR, 6 RBI

Bomba Tracker
- 2020: 33
- 2019 through 22 games: 38

 

Storylines
1. Trevor May, Tyler Duffey, and Sergio Romo have been fantastic out of the pen thus far, totaling a 1.80ERA combined in 30IP out of the pen so far. But the other half of the pen has been abismal to say the least, posting a 7.04ERA in 55IP. The Twins have lost a great deal of games early due to collapse from the pen so with the bats becoming more consistent, Wes Johnson needs his bullpen to do the same.
2. The Twins swept Seattle earlier this year and now will begin a four game series after this first home series win this year. Toting the rubber for Minnesota is the veteran Homer Bailey, currently 4th in the AL in ERA.
3. With Cleveland staying red hot, the Twins will look to keep pace and lower their games back to 3.5 today with the possible win.

[denarded]

Are you doing the announcing for this? If so, amazing job.  I don't know how advanced games have come. I'm old

[thuuuuney]

 

Are you doing the announcing for this? If so, amazing job.  I don't know how advanced games have come. I'm old

Yeah I turned off the in-game announcer and I'm calling the games! I'm almost done with the post-game report but thanks for the kind words.

[thuuuuney]

Miss the game? https://www.twitch.tv/videos/597899411

• Want to skip the pre-game? Go to time-stamp 29:48

Post-Game Wrap

The Twins began series #2 of the longest homestand of the year yesterday after taking series #1 two games to one over Detroit and looked to get off to a hot start last night. On the mound for Minnesota was one of the biggest surprises out of the Twins rotation thus far in Homer Bailey. Bailey started the year out of the pen but after being moved to the rotation he's been fantastic, with the lowest ERA out of the rotation and the 4th lowest ERA in the American League, 1.61.

 

On the mound for Seattle was Justus Sheffield, a starter the Twins did not see back in their series earlier this year, and he would find himself in a lot of jams early and as we've seen with the Twins all year, they would take themselves out of innings frequently in this one.

• https://clips.twitch.tv/AbstemiousStylishWaffleCoolCat

Bailey was matching Sheffield blow for blow and on a cold night at Target Field, both teams bats were slow to get going, but the scoring started with the Twins and Jorge Polanco.

• https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/BrainyFaithfulCrabsStrawBeary

The M's would eventually tie up the ballgame with a home run and a crooked number in the 5th, all capped off with a tough play from Josh Donaldson.

• https://clips.twitch.tv/FancySwissDillAllenHuhu

So Bailey would end his day after five and the game was turned over to the bullpen and I mentioned in the pre-game, outside of the trio Duffey,Romo, and May, they've been brutal to start off the year with a 7.04ERA. So the man coming out of the pen was Fernando Romero, who began the year in AAA, and came up to hopefully help the Twins spell the tail end of the pen. Romero would answer our pre-game call in a huge way and through three innings out of the pen, Romero held the M's scoreless and kept the Twins in the game. So we headed to the home half of the 8th with the former Mariner Nelson Cruz trying to get Romero the win.

• https://clips.twitch.tv/DignifiedArtisticSnailTwitchRPG

The Twins tie it, but don't take the lead and in his best Jack Morris impression, Romero tells Rocco he's going back out for the 9th. Romero would go on to set the M's down in order and bring the Twins to the 9th, as they looked to walk it off and get Romero the win. A lead off double by Eddie Rosario made the inning look promising, but it was followed up with a popout and a punch out and the Twins were down to their last chance before extras with Byron Buxton coming to the plate. The only walk-off this year for Minnesota was courtesy of a 2-run shot by Eddie Rosario and with a 1-0 count to Byron Buxton....the pitch...

• https://www.twitch.tv/thuuuuney/clip/ObliviousDistinctYogurtPartyTime

WALK OFF BOMBA #2 AND THE TWINS TAKE GAME ONE 5-3!

 

 

Box Score

 

Seattle

1. Gordon, 2B: 1-3, BB, R
2. Smith, CF: 1-4 SB
3. Haniger, RF: 1-4, 2B, RBI
4. Vogelbach 1B: 1-3
5. Murphy C: 1-4 HR
6. Seager 3B: 0-3
7. Bishop LF: 1-4
8. Crawford SS: 0-4
9. Moore DH: 0-4

 

 

Batting

2B: Haniger (7).

HR: Murphy (4).

RBI: Haniger (13), Murphy (9).

HBP: Vogelbach (2).

GIDP: Seager (1).

 

Baserunning

SB: Gordon (4), Smith (3).

 

 

Minnesota

1. Kepler, RF: 1-4, R
2. Polanco SS: 2-4, 2B, 2-Run HR
3. Donaldson 3B: 0-4
4. Cruz* DH: 1-4 Tying RBI 2B in 8th
5. Sano 1B: 2-4 2 2B
6. Rosario LF: 2-4, 2B, R
7. Garver C: 1-3 BB
8. Arraez 2B: 0-4 
9. Buxton CF: 1-3 Walk-off HR, BB, 2R

*= Jake Cave: entered as PR for Cruz in 8th (no stats accumulated).

 

Batting

2B: Kepler (8), Sano 2 (6), Rosario (6)

HR: Polanco (3), Buxton (5)

RBI: Polanco 2 (14), Cruz (15), Buxton 2 (8).

GIDP: Arraez 2 (5)

 

Fielding

E: Donaldson (2).

 

Seattle

• Sheffield. 4.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K's 9.19ERA
• Swanson. 1.2IP, 1H, 2 K's 7.31ERA
• Guilbeau (H,3). 1.1IP 5.19ERA
• Hirano (BS, 2). 1.0IP, 2H, 1R, 1K 5.40ERA
• Altavilla (L, 0-2). 0.2IP, 2H, 2R 6.56ERA

Minnesota

 

• Bailey. 5.0IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K's 2.30ERA
• Romero (W, 1-1). 4.0IP, 0H, 3K's 4.00ERA