Twins 5, Pirates 1: Pablo López Extends Scoreless Streak; Matt Wallner Leaves Early in Win

Guardians salvage a split vs. the Tigers.  5 up with 39 to play,  I suppose I should panic.

I look at Detroit and feel a bit stressed. I believe that they will pass Cleveland. I think of the 51 Giants or the 78 Yankees who were further behind than this in mid August and came back. I hope my fears are misplaced.

Correa has been very good in August -.830 OPS

Good job by Lopez is working around trouble last night. Sometimes you can see giving up those hits and putting the leadoff guy on getting in a pitcher's head, but Lopez seemed unfazed. He's a really good pitcher and he's having an excellent season. Thrilled to have him locked down in the rotation long term.

Jax has had his troubles recently, but did a great job cleaning up for Thielbar. Would have been nice to only use 3 relievers last night, but sometimes a guy gets beat and that's what happened to Thielbar. Pagan has been good this season; the WHIP is impressive and he seems much less prone to lobbing in a "get over" pitch that gets smoked this season.

Hope all the guys who got plunked are ok, especially Wallner who had the added indignity of getting plunked and having it be a strike. Wallner has been really doing well and I'd hate to see his season get disrupted.

Props to Royce Lewis for making a tremendous play at 3B. Turned a double into an out and saved a run. Just stay healthy!

Royce is really a good athlete. Just the way he moves to the ball is noticeably quicker and smoother than most 3 rd baseman. 

Kinda a nervous win as Pablo was shaky but got out of jams. Especially Jax in 7th inning. Lewis with web gem as well. Workmen like win. Up lead to 5 games. Go twins!!!

Having sands wasting away a spot in the bullpen is terrible.  If we don't have anyone in the minors any better then we are hurting.  Great game.  Everything looks good until the next losing streak comes along.  Go Twins

I know back a few months ago there was a lot of passioned talk about the Arraez-Lopez trade. And I admit freely I was a critic--with reservations given its a long season.

No one expected Arraez to hit ,400, honestly. And we ALL hoped Lopez would eventually turn into the 'ace' we hoped we obtained.

So now as August draws to a close, Arraeiz is at .361 and is only .230 over the past 15 games. He has predictably cooled off and is seeking his 'level''...which is still pretty good. He would have to disappear to not win the NL batting title. But more importantly Lopez has constantly gotten better. He is really now our 'ace' in the rotation and he will be a force should Twins hang on to 1st place.

This becomes a cautionary tale for us all not to jump to early conclusions when a baseball season is 162 games long.  I am very happy that Lopez is excelling because that means good things for the Twins. Still a ways to go but the outlook sure seems positive. We know its wrong to judge a trade too quickly...but as fans, sometimes we can't help ourselves. I will continue to learn from this!

I certainly wish Arraez well, but its more important that Lopez is 'our guy'!

How do I find/ access the posting thread during the game? 

Nice win. Lopez was in trouble just about every inning, but came out of it ok. It sure would SUCK if Wallner goes down. Hopefully, it's just a bruise and he only misses a game or two. I'm not too worried about Gray tonight, but Keuchel tomorrow could be a problem. If he gets shelled again, I wouldn't give him another start. 

23 minutes ago, joefish said:

How do I find/ access the posting thread during the game? 

The forums tab at the top of the page, then click on Minnesota Twins talk. The game thread will be there if it has been created. Sometimes there is a banner, usually green, at the top of any page.

Another great tool on this site is this button that looks like a page icon in between the circle with the half moon and the plus. It shows content being discussed currently that you have not read yet

Interesting there was no mention of Royce Lewis at all.

His double and the run he scored was a big run.  But, his play at third was amazing.  Had he not gotten it that runner would have scored as the next hitter also had a double.  A run there would have given the Pirates some MO and who knows.

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Good job by Lopez is working around trouble last night. Sometimes you can see giving up those hits and putting the leadoff guy on getting in a pitcher's head, but Lopez seemed unfazed. He's a really good pitcher and he's having an excellent season. Thrilled to have him locked down in the rotation long term.

Jax has had his troubles recently, but did a great job cleaning up for Thielbar. Would have been nice to only use 3 relievers last night, but sometimes a guy gets beat and that's what happened to Thielbar. Pagan has been good this season; the WHIP is impressive and he seems much less prone to lobbing in a "get over" pitch that gets smoked this season.

Hope all the guys who got plunked are ok, especially Wallner who had the added indignity of getting plunked and having it be a strike. Wallner has been really doing well and I'd hate to see his season get disrupted.

Props to Royce Lewis for making a tremendous play at 3B. Turned a double into an out and saved a run. Just stay healthy!

 

I agree, that was a very nice play by Royce at 3rd base.  I think Solano did a fine job making the catch and keeping his foot on the bag at 1st.  Solano was a really smart pick up this spring training.  Who knew?  The guy can flat out hit.

49 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

It's a pretty private club. You'll need the secret code word and knock.

Will cold pizza and warm Hamms get me in?

I was excited to see Lopez, Lewis & Endy Rodriguez play in this game. None of them disappointed me. MAT came through again to get that crucial hit.

I was impressed how Rodriguez caught with such flair as a new rookie.

The pizza is is mystery meat surprise but the Hamms are cold.