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GAME THREAD: 9/15/20, Minnesota Twins @ Chicago White Sox, 7:10 CDT

Mill1634

By Mill1634
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Mill1634 Minnesota Twins

Mill1634

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The Twins looked miserable at the plate last night with runners on base, including Nelson Cruz stranding 9 runners, including the bases loaded twice. However, the game was still in reach, until the bottom of the 8th when Taylor Rogers struggled once again, which has been a common theme this year. I think Rocco is going to keep giving him the ball in high leverage situation, but I don't know if it will be the 9th inning from here on out. 

 

The Pitchers: RHP Randy Dobnak (6-3, 42.1 IP, 3.61 ERA, 23 SO) vs RHP Dane Dunning (1-0, 20 IP, 2.70 ERA, 21 SO)

 

Tonight is the battle of the goggles, as Dobnak and Dunning will both sport a pair tonight. On the mound, we have seen Dobnak have some negative regression, which everyone saw coming. Last time out we saw him start on short rest and just lose command of the zone against the Cardinals, something that doesn't happen to him very often. Dobnak does have 4 scoreless against the CWS thus far. Opposing Dobnak, is rookie Dane Dunning, who has 4 career starts, and has allowed 0 runs in two of them. However, he hasn't exactly faced a murduer's row, as he has faced KC 2x, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. Those are some of the worst offensives in baseball. Dunning has obviously never faced the Twins, so look for the Twins to either by hyper aggressive early, or take a lot of pitches the first time through.

 

The Lineups:

 

Twins

 

RF Max Kepler L
3B J. Donaldson R
SS J. Polanco S
DH Nelson Cruz R
LF E. Rosario L
1B Miguel Sano R
2B T. Blankenhorn L
CF Byron Buxton R
C Ryan Jeffers R

 

White Sox

 

SS Tim Anderson R
3B Yoan Moncada S
DH Y. Grandal S
1B Jose Abreu R
LF Eloy Jimenez R
C James McCann R
CF Luis Robert R
RF Adam Engel R
2B N. Madrigal R

 

Max Kepler is back at the top of the lineup for the third time in three days, and has Josh Donaldson right behind him, which has been good news so far. Sano is back in the lineup, as is Rosario, both who sat out yesterday with soreness. Rookie Travis Blakenhorn will be making his MLB debut at 2nd base, somewhere he played a fair amount in the minor leagues. Blakenhorn is a very large human to be playing 2nd base, and looks like he should be playing linebacker in the NFL. I expect to see him at 2nd 4 or 5 times a week until Arraez is back. The White Sox have a very similar lineup to last night, but Edwin Encarnacion is not in the lineup, and McCan takes over for him, sliding Grandal to DH. Last nights hero Adam Engel will be starting in right field for Nomar Mazara. No White Sox hitter has taken Dobnak deep in their career. 

 

This Day In History - 2002: Defeating the Indians after a 67-minute rain delay, 5-0, the Twins clinch the American League Central Division flag. Minnesota, which will be making its first playoff appearance since 1991, was almost eliminated during the offseason due to contraction.

 

Pick to Click - Rosario ambushes the Rookie for a homer tonight

 

Go Twins!!!

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flpmagikat College Ball

flpmagikat

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Yeah, for all the talk about time it takes for players to find their grooves, what about the umps? lol. just terrible this season. auto umps next year please

diehardtwinsfan Minnesota Twins

diehardtwinsfan

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Yeah, for all the talk about time it takes for players to find their grooves, what about the umps? lol. just terrible this season. auto umps next year please

when is the last time they had a good season?

bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

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I'd like to see Garver back

The way he was playing before he went down, I'd prefer to see more Jeffers and get Avila back.

 

Garver had a sizeable chunk of time to get right, and he never got close. I'm afraid Mitch may be hoping for a chance to platoon in an MLB backwater like Arizona, Baltimore, or Miami sooner than later. Flash-in-the-pan seasons happen all the time, it looks likely to me that Mitch Garver will likely just be another trivia footnote.

bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

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Chicago's eyes must have lit up when they saw Dobnak's name on the scorecard tonight. Meatballs for dinner.

USAFChief GOAT

USAFChief

Twins Daily Contributor
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The way he was playing before he went down, I'd prefer to see more Jeffers and get Avila back.

 

Garver had a sizeable chunk of time to get right, and he never got close. I'm afraid Mitch may be hoping for a chance to platoon in an MLB backwater like Arizona, Baltimore, or Miami sooner than later. Flash-in-the-pan seasons happen all the time, it looks likely to me that Mitch Garver will likely just be another trivia footnote.

He certainly struggled this year, but he has 800 PAs of an .829 OPS. I'm not sure 61 PAs this year is a "sizable chunk," at least not enough to conclude much.

 

I don't think he's a .900 OPS hitter like last year, but I'll wager he's not a .400 OPS hitter, either.

twinbythebay College Ball

twinbythebay

Verified Member
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The way he was playing before he went down, I'd prefer to see more Jeffers and get Avila back.

 

Garver had a sizeable chunk of time to get right, and he never got close. I'm afraid Mitch may be hoping for a chance to platoon in an MLB backwater like Arizona, Baltimore, or Miami sooner than later. Flash-in-the-pan seasons happen all the time, it looks likely to me that Mitch Garver will likely just be another trivia footnote.

It's baffling to me how many people are ready to write off Garver, Kepler, Rogers, and others on this team based on a rough 1-2 months after 6 months of elite play.

bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

Verified Member
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The good story that was Dobnak is turning sour in a hurry. 

Reminds me a lot of the Ryne Harper love-fest we had last year.

 

We should be happy with what we got from Randy early, but expecting him to be anything more than a mop-up-guy or spot-starter for the rest of his career is expecting too much.

USAFChief GOAT

USAFChief

Twins Daily Contributor
Posted
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By the by...still looking for the answer to last night's pop quiz: Byron Buxton has 1 (one, uno, less than 2) base on balls this year.e

 

Which pitcher managed to walk Byron this year?

 

We've established he's a lefty from the NL, but not Milwaukee or StL.

Aggies7 MVP

Aggies7

Old-Timey Member
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Reminds me a lot of the Ryne Harper love-fest we had last year.

 

We should be happy with what we got from Randy early, but expecting him to be anything more than a mop-up-guy or spot-starter for the rest of his career is expecting too much.

No one ever calls a great talent a great story

bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

 

It's baffling to me how many people are ready to write off Garver, Kepler, Rogers, and others on this team based on a rough 1-2 months after 6 months of elite play.

 

I hear ya. On the flip side: how can you ignore 2 months of possibly the worst hitting statistics in the AL?

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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By the by...still looking for the answer to last night's pop quiz: Byron Buxton has 1 (one, uno, less than 2) base on balls this year.e

 

Which pitcher managed to walk Byron this year?

 

We've established he's a lefty from the NL, but not Milwaukee or StL.

That reliever in Pittsburgh who couldn’t find the plate — I’d have to look up the name...

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

I hear ya. On the flip side: how can you ignore 2 months of possibly the worst hitting statistics in the AL?

Garver has 61 PA this year. That is not two months worth of PA, even if the season is almost (but not quite) two calendar months old.

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