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GAME THREAD: 8/17 Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals, 7:10 CDT

Mill1634

By Mill1634
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Mill1634 Minnesota Twins

Mill1634

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The Twins wrap up a wrap around weekend series with Kansas City tonight, after taking 2 of 3 from the pesky Royals on Saturday and Sunday. The Twins will rely on yet another bullpen game, while the Royals turn to Rookie southpaw Kris Bubic. Odds are this game finishes 4-2, so bet the under if you are one of those people, and thank me later.

 

The Pitchers: LHP Kris Bubic (0-2, 5.40 ERA, 15 K's, 15 IP) vs RHP Matt Wisler (0-1, 1.80 ERA, 11 K's, 10 IP)

 

Bubic is making his fourth career start in the big leagues, and his first against the Minnesota Twins. Despite Bubic's struggles in the majors thus far, he is a guy that has very solid minor league numbers, and is a fairly regarded prospect. The lefty will sit 92-94, but has hit 97 in the past. He also features a changeup in order to get right handed hitters out. The Twins will start Matt Wisler as their opener for the final game of the series. Wisler did open 8 games last year in Seattle, but is making his first start in Minnesota. Wisler has gone multiple innings a few times this year, so look for Wisler to go 2 innings before Devin Smeltzer takes over. 

 

The Lineups

 

Twins

 

SS J. Polanco S
C Mitch Garver R
DH Nelson Cruz R
LF E. Rosario L
2B M. Gonzalez S
1B Miguel Sano R
RF Max Kepler L
CF Byron Buxton R
3B E. Adrianza S

 

Royals

 

CF W. Merrifield R

2B Nicky Lopez L
C S. Perez R
DH Jorge Soler R
RF H. Dozier R
1B Ryan McBroom R
3B M. Franco R
LF Alex Gordon L
SS A. Mondesi S

 

Rocco moves Jorge Polanco up to leadoff against a lefty, a spot that Mitch Garver has hit a majority of the time since midway through last season. However, Garver only moves down one spot. Arraez gets another day off, presumably because of the matchup and his knee that still seems to be at less than 100%. Adrianza gets the start at third with Marwin shifting to second base. The Royals will roll with a similar lineup that we have seen countless times already in this short season, with 7 of the 9 hitters being right handed. It is safe to say Manager Mike Matheny is setting up for Smeltzer or Thorpe, as Wisler has been much tougher on righties than lefties in the past.

 

Mill's Musing

Sizzling Sergio - It has been talked about a lot in the past 27 hours since Romo struck out the side to finish off a 4-2 win yesterday, but the Royals seemed very upset after Romo punched out Jorge Soler to end the game. We heard the hot mics on FSN pick up Romo saying "Keep Talking!" and creating a hand gesture of a mouth moving to the Royals dugout. As the Twins were going through the postgame handshake line, the Royals were still sitting in the dugout, just watching. It seems as if they took offence to Romo's antics, but I am uncertain why. He is a veteran reliever that has done this at every place he has pitched. Don't want Romo to talk? Put the ball in play at least once. Keep in eye on this tonight, as things have potential to get chippy.

 

 

This Day in History - 2014: Michael Cuddyer is the 30th player to hit for multiple cycles, but becomes only the third player to accomplish the feat in both the American and National League, joining Bob Watson (Astros, 1977, and Red Sox, 1979) and John Olerud (Mets, 1997, and Mariners, 2001). The rare baseball occurrence is completed with an eighth inning double off Reds reliever Manny Parra, who yielded three of the hits in the outfielder's first cycle in 2009, pitching for the Brewers in a game against the Twins.

 

Pick to Click - Garver goes yard

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DocBauer All-Star

DocBauer

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So if the plan is for Thorpe or Smeltzer to go at least 3 and hopefully 4, is it still a bullpen game? Or is it just a game with an opener and a primary starter? And what marks the difference? Is it how many innings the 2nd guy throws? Is it because he's usually been a starter? Is it innings AND being a starter normally that makes the final determination?

 

Go Twins! Take 3 out of 4!

Cap'n Piranha Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

Cap'n Piranha

Verified Member
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At some point, I would like the Twins to just bite the bullet and put Luis on the IL.  You have Blankenhorn in St Peasy, and now Vargas, so you can cover second for a few days.  Luis is not doing us any good trying to play through this.

IndianaTwin Wichita Wind Surge

IndianaTwin

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I further predict Hill will go Wednesday, thanks to the doubleheader having pushed Odo back to Saturday. He and Berrios would now be on for Thursday and Friday. 

wabene Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

wabene

Verified Member
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Just had a pastie from the Duluth Grill which the better half put extra gravy on, firmly horizontal now and ready for some baseball! Pick to click; Thorpedo takes an unexpected step forward for 3 good innings.

IndianaTwin Wichita Wind Surge

IndianaTwin

Verified Member
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Per Betsy Helfand on Twitter: 

 

An update on Josh Donaldson (calf strain): The Twins' third baseman has shown steady improvement for the past few days. He did machine cardio today, took some ground balls and continues to take BP and hit in the cage. He reported no issues with any of that today.

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