GAME THREAD 5/21/2021: Twins @ Cleveland, 6:10 CDT

[Diesel]

Even if the Twins are struggling, I still feel like this lineup is among the most exciting in baseball. Trevor Larnach and Alex Kirilloff are both very promising prospects with a lot of pop. Garver and Sano are starting to show their 2019 swings again. Simmons is a wizard at shortstop. Josh Donaldson is still a star of this league. We watched through the 2011-2014 seasons, right? The problem this year has been the lack of "clutch" moments so far. During the Metrodome era, my favorite player was Jason Kubel. Why, may you ask? It is because he seemed to perform when he was absolutely needed. The grand-slam cycle game, 2009 Game 163, the list goes on...... Jorge Polanco had the walkoff hit a couple nights ago, but he's not in the lineup.

Baseball is my favorite sport because you can accurately tell how individual players are performing. For example, Josh Willingham was a Silver Slugger on an awful team. However, on the Vikings, it was hard to tell how well Harrison Smith was playing on a train-wreck defense. No matter how bad your favorite baseball team is, there is usually something to cheer for. A season is never truly lost. A legend climbing the all-time lists, a young guy reaching his potential, a pitcher with a lights-out fastball..... I sure hope that's not all I have to root for this year. The season is still very young.

Lineups

Luis Arraez 2B

Josh Donaldson 3B

Maximilian Kepler DH

Alex Kirilloff RF

Miguel Sano 1B

Trevor Larnach LF

Mitch Garver C

Rob Refsnyder CF

Andrelton Simmons SS

P: Randy Dobnak

 

Cesar Hernandez 2B

Eddie Rosario OF

Jose Ramirez 3B

Franmil Reyes DH

Josh Naylor OF

Jordan Luplow OF

Jake Bauers 1B

Eddie Rosario SS

Austin Hedges C

P: Triston McKenzie

 

Let's play ball!

 

 

[Mauerpower]

Never thought I’d see an outfield consisting entirely of rookies!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Go Cocaine Dentists!

 

Or was that whole unwritten rule just pulling my leg?

I always liked Calvinball, so gotta be quick on the uptake?

[Danchat]

Today marks the first day of having Kirilloff and Larnach in the outfield together... hopefully, this will be the start of their long careers as Twins. You can only hope...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

18 minutes ago, Mauerpower said:

Never thought I’d see an outfield consisting entirely of rookies!

And not a Rooker in sight...

 

Though i wasn't paying attention, did he exhaust his status during shortened playing last summer?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Dobnak's got this.

At least a bunch of innings, as the days of complete games are mostly past.

[MVP Nick Punto]

So, does Miguel Sano single-handedly win this or lose this for us?

[ashbury]

15 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Today marks the first day of having Kirilloff and Larnach in the outfield together

Looks like you'll have to wait a day...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

Looks like you'll have to wait a day...

Likewise the all rookie outfield.

 

Cruz scratch means Kepler is batting and Kepler in means Kirilloff is DH according to the announcing.

[ashbury]

5 minutes ago, MVP Nick Punto said:

So, does Miguel Sano single-handedly win this or lose this for us?

Yes.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 minute ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Likewise the all rookie outfield.

 

Cruz scratch means Kepler is batting and Kepler in means Kirilloff is DH according to the announcing.

And maybe we were wrong....

 

Funny feeling, being wrong.

[stringer bell]

47 minutes ago, Mauerpower said:

Never thought I’d see an outfield consisting entirely of rookies!

Refsnyder is not a rookie. Just glad to see Larnach and Kirilloff on the corners.

[stringer bell]

BTW, according to BBRef, Refsnyder had played 70 games in the outfield before being recalled by the Twins. He had never played center field in a major league game until this week.

[stringer bell]

22 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Likewise the all rookie outfield.

 

Cruz scratch means Kepler is batting and Kepler in means Kirilloff is DH according to the announcing.

I think the team is trying to spare Kepler as much as they can. He's not 100% right now by any means. 

[bighat]

Robby Ref! Yard sale!

[ashbury]

REFSNYDER!!!!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

14 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Refsnyder is not a rookie. Just glad to see Larnach and Kirilloff on the corners.

So i am not the only person wrong today?

[ashbury]

The Indians pitcher seemed a little skeletal to me, so I looked him up on b-r.com. Six-foot-five. One-hundred-sixty-five pounds.

Eat a sammich, will you, my friend?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Hey, that one guy hit a home run. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

REFSNYDER!!!!

Concur!!!!

[Diesel]

Refsnyder is an incredible last name

[Brock Beauchamp]

BTW, I was at the game Refsnyder made his Twins debut and had absolutely no idea he’s Asian until like 2-3 days ago.

Didn’t see that coming based on the name. 

I call this the “Khalil Greene effect”. 

[Danchat]

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

BTW, I was at the game Refsnyder made his Twins debut and had absolutely no idea he’s Asian until like 2-3 days ago.

Didn’t see that coming based on the name. 

Same, except for me it was 7 minutes ago when I looked up his BBref profile.

[h2oface]

Astudillo must be rubbing off on some of the other hitters. Donaldson will swing at anything today.

[h2oface]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

BTW, I was at the game Refsnyder made his Twins debut and had absolutely no idea he’s Asian until like 2-3 days ago.

Didn’t see that coming based on the name. 

I guess you never looked at him before?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, h2oface said:

I guess you never looked at him before?

Looking at him kinda gave it away. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Is Dobnak pitching well or is he pitching against Cleveland? I can’t tell. 

[h2oface]

Arraez can't play the outfield, and there you have it in the infield (and of course there is the infamous game against Oakland). And for those thinking he will ever hit .400? Dreamers.

[Squirrel]

I still ❤️ Rosario

[stringer bell]

4 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Is Dobnak pitching well or is he pitching against Cleveland? I can’t tell. 

Yes.