GAME THREAD: 5/14/21 Minnesota Twins vs Oakland A's, 7:10 PM CDT

[Mill1634]

The Pitchers:

RHP Matt Shoemaker (2-3, 6.43 ERA, 19 K's, 28 IP) vs RHP Frankie Montas (4-2, 5.50 ERA, 35 K's, 36 IP)

Shoemaker was good his last time out against the Tigers, which is the most recent game that the Twins won. However, his last start at home saw him get roughed up by the Royals, allowing 9 runs in just 3.1 innings pitched. Shoemaker has been the Twins worst starter, but the veteran right hander should be able to improve to his career norms. Montas, a hard throwing righty, beat the Rays last time out. Frankie was suspended for 80 games in 2019 for PEDs. He relies on a sinker 4 seam combination, which sit in the upper 90s. He works a slider off those two pitches to right handers, and a split finger to lefties which has a whiff rate of 45.7%.

The Lineups

Twins

LF Luis Arraez (L)

3B Josh Donaldson

2B Jorge Polanco (S)

DH Nelson Cruz

RF Trevor Larnach (L)

1B Willians Astudillo

CF Max Kepler (L)

SS Andrelton Simmons

C Ben Rortvedt (L)

A's

CF Ramon Laureano

DH Mitch Moreland (L)

2B Jed Lowrie (S)

1B Matt Olson (L)

3B Matt Chapman

RF Stephen Piscotty

LF Seth Brown (L)

C Sean Murphy

SS Elvis Andrus

 

This Day in History - 2005: In upstate New York, 11-year-old Katie Brownell, the only girl enrolled in the local Little League, throws a perfect game in front of an astonished crowd of about 100 parents and friends. The shy sixth-grader strikes out every batter she faces, allowing only three foul balls in the six-inning contest at Oakfield Town Park.

 

Pick to Click: Nelson Cruz hits a bomba

 

Prediction: Twins 6, A's 5

 

Go Twins!!!

[Mike Sixel]

It's David Byrnes' birthday....could do worse than listen to the Talking Heads instead of the announcers......It is also one of Milli Vanilli's bdays, but I have no idea which is which. You maybe could not do worse than to listen to that....Oh, the bassist for Cream has a birthday today, plenty of good music there....

[operation mindcrime]

My pick to click is the entire A's lineup against Shoemaker!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

16 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

It's David Byrnes' birthday....could do worse than listen to the Talking Heads instead of the announcers......It is also one of Milli Vanilli's bdays, but I have no idea which is which. You maybe could not do worse than to listen to that....Oh, the bassist for Cream has a birthday today, plenty of good music there....

Why not both? We have have 2 ears after all... At least that is the defaul setting, it would seem.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

24 minutes ago, Mill1634 said:

This Day in History - 2005: In upstate New York, 11-year-old Katie Brownell, the only girl enrolled in the local Little League, throws a perfect game in front of an astonished crowd of about 100 parents and friends. The shy sixth-grader strikes out every batter she faces, allowing only three foul balls in the six-inning contest at Oakfield Town Park.

 

I wanna say i heard on the radio someone had recently done this at the collegiate softball level as well.

[stringer bell]

Okay. The Twins are flawed, but they’re better than a .350 club. Eventually they’ll somewhat break out of it. I’d rather watch them win than lose, but I am holding no illusions that they can challenge Chicago. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

This team is going to win another game before the end of the season, it may as well be tonight. 

[Nine of twelve]

10 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

This team is going to win another game before the end of the season, it may as well be tonight. 

I think they'll probably win more than one.

[Mill1634]

I understand the camo hats are league wide, but man are they ugly with our colors

[Nine of twelve]

2 minutes ago, Mill1634 said:

I understand the camo hats are league wide, but man are they ugly.

FTFY.

[RickOShea]

Isn't Smalley due for a long vacation?

 

[TheMatt]

My prediction: 15 runs scored this series. 13 of them tonight.

[RickOShea]

1 minute ago, TheMatt said:

My prediction: 15 runs scored this series. 13 of them tonight.

I'll take it, as long as Bremer and Smalley cut their oral production by 50%.

[RickOShea]

First basic fundamental blown,.........did not advance the runner (Donaldson)

[Brock Beauchamp]

Simmons’ arm does not seem right. I’ve watched him quite a bit and he never looked like this in past seasons. 

[Mill1634]

Good start for Matt

[MMMordabito]

The Oakland announcers seem to be less dopey than Dickroy.

[Mike Sixel]

I continue to be amazed people listen to sportscasters on TV. Y'all are more stout than I

[Platoon]

1 minute ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Simmons’ arm does not seem right. I’ve watched him quite a bit and he never looked like this in past seasons. 

When they signed him I told my son, .

"it’s nice to see a SS exceed 78 mph on a throw to first". That last one was in the low 60’s

[Mill1634]

I'm sure this is just recency bias, but this year it feels like umps are completely flipping a coin on the outside corner

[Danchat]

Tortuga takes the rare called strikeout... and yup, Gameday has it as a clear ball. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, Danchat said:

Tortuga takes the rare called strikeout... and yup, Gameday has it as a clear ball. 

It was definitely a ball. 

[Mill1634]

Byron Buxton catches that

[Danchat]

I was pondering the comment "hey, Shokemakeris looking good so far!", and then that happens... nice catch by the fan with the beer in one hand!

[D. Hocking]

It is early yet, I am confident the Twins can score some runs and keep Oakland to one run with no more scoring for the next six innings.

[LaBombo]

5 minutes ago, Danchat said:

I was pondering the comment "hey, Shokemakeris looking good so far!", and then that happens... nice catch by the fan with the beer in one hand!

Until I see Shoe and the allegedly retired Nick Blackburn in the same place at the same time, I'm just going to keep assuming the worst.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Can Astudillo ever do anything normally?

[Mill1634]

Nice to see Rortvedt (finally) hit something hard

[Brock Beauchamp]

I despise the shift. 

[Mill1634]

Donaldson could've crawled to first faster than that