Make it Official: Twins 9, Tigers 3 - Minnesota Mashes in Motown

My favorite moment tonight was not four home runs or both Lee and Vazquez reaching base four times. Instead, Baldelli kept Lopez in the game after he loaded the bases in the 7th with nobody out. Pablo had to clean up his own mess, and to his credit he did without allowing a run. Maybe this will remedy his evident anxieties when runners get on base.

Of course, we're ready to complain when the Twins look inconsistent, such as -- hold on:

The Yankees have lost 24 of their last 35 games.

Anyway, such as that moment when...

The bats started early and kept adding on ...

Pablo was Pablo  ...

Now that's baseball at it best ...

I loved the throw from Keith to first base ,  nobody there but the umpire  ...

Vazquez had an exceptional  night at the plate with 3 hits and a walk  , maybe tomorrow night he can get 4 hits  ... 

Buxton is back , hitting and fielding ,  stay healthy Byron  ... KNOCK ON WOOD ...

Man that Colt Keith throw was hilarious. In the heat of the moment as he was turning to throw I'm sure the uniform's similarity in color to the ump's is what fooled him. People were calling those uniforms ugly, but they looked beautiful to me on that play, lol.

3 homers is a great way to start, setting up Pablo. He wiggled out of that 7th inning jam very nicely. It sure would help if he is putting it together for a good stretch run.

2 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I am so happy that Rocco is aware of the PH record that Margot is setting and gave him a chance to extend his streak!  Otherwise it was just a great ball game.

It seems like our FO and manager like to break  records  ...

Last year we broke the record  for most strikeouts , now they keep trotting Margot out to break a pinch hitting record of not getting  a hit ( tonight was no difference , o'fr ) ...

I like records  of the positive kind , not the negative  kind ...

Thought Brooks Lee looked pretty solid at SS, that was nice to see.

Nice outing for the Twins offense. Good job jumping on the Tigers early and often and never letting them up off the mat. Wallner certainly seems to be back to the guy he was last season. Hope he's worked out all the kinks!

Great game by Lopez and great interview with Lopez there, if you haven't watched that clip please do. Really impressive to hear him discuss that 7th inning in detail. 

Nice win! It'll be a little tougher game tonight with Skubal going for Detroit. Ryan needs to be at the top of his game. 

Great game! Overall Pablo looked really good. Vazquez looked confident at the plate. Lee was being Lee. Let's bring this to Skubal. Maybe we can hold off on that hitless PH record for another day.

Great to see Pablo get the opportunity to work out of his own jam, he's been pitching like an ace lately. I still think we're one good SP short of a true playoff contender. Glad Lee broke out of his little slump with three hits. He also looked great at short. Much better than Castro who shouldn't be relyed upon as a SS. The one complaint I have is Rocco continually pinch hitting Margot. The guy can't pinch hit, there are better options on the team. I don't even trust Margot in the outfield, every time a ball gets hit his way I cringe. Hopefully we can offload him on another team at the deadline so we don't have to watch his ridiculous PH streak gror and grow...

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

First off, I like Rocco so this is not bashing him but possibly his analytics.  Why is it OK to PH Margot for a lefty against a LH'ed pitcher only to have him face a RH'ed pitcher in his next at bat but it is not OK to let Wallner for example hit against a lefty so that he can face a righty in his next AB?  It wasn't like the game was on the line at the time he PH Margot.

From a reputation standpoint at least, Margot is seen as a better fielder than say, Wallner (or Larnach) especially in terms of catching the ball (clearly Wallner has the stronger arm). I'm guessing it's partially a defensive replacement situation where they feel like they can ensure more outs this way and keep the other team from getting back into the game. I'm not sure it's all that impactful, but YMMV.

10 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Thought Brooks Lee looked pretty solid at SS, that was nice to see.

Nice outing for the Twins offense. Good job jumping on the Tigers early and often and never letting them up off the mat. Wallner certainly seems to be back to the guy he was last season. Hope he's worked out all the kinks!

What is SO encouraging about Wallner is he is squaring up breaking balls which were his Achilles heel at the start of the season.

I'm surprised that fans aren't all over Buxton for missing that very catchable flyball. It's not like he's a rookie learning a new position.