Twins 7, Rangers 5: Twins Emerge Victorious in Slugfest, Backed by Resilient Bullpen

Magic number: Rod Carew.

Going for Circle Me Bert tomorrow.

A great come behind win after two very frustrating losses. A  big salute to Winder and Jax for four, much needed, scoreless innings. And to the offense for late, timely hitting. A great, enjoyable win.

So many notable performances. Great come from behind win to kick off the homestand!

Wow!!! What a comeback!!! Down5-2 5 home runs!! From farmer/Lewis as well 2 with Taylor matching his career best and Jeffers with excellent pitch hit home run to win. Winder is mvp tonight with 3 shut out innings!!!huge huge huge win especially with Cleveland losing division lead is up to 6 games!!!

Those 3 scoreless innings by Winder, after the rocky start by Lopez (hope it was just a bad day at the office and no other concerns) was huge! And those homers by Royce Lewis and Michael Taylor, and that ultimate one by Jeffers! Wow! One of those rare feel good moments of late. Let's hope we can string together another win like that. 

Wallner hit a single, not a double.  He crushed that ball was too hard.

Umpire had a lousy game.  It’s a bad situation when everyone watching the game on tv, and the announcers, can see clearly how badly the ump is missing calls.  

39 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Royce Lewis is a weapon isn’t he!!

Really hoping for some good news on Kirilloff to really lengthen the line-up soon. Any news on his health?

Veteran pick-ups by FO paying off again……Farmer - Solano - Taylor all hit the ball & played solid Defense. How about Solano at 2B, after all night at first, in the 9th and initiating the double play flawlessly? Nice!

CC - RBI big double after Wallner’s laser off the wall. Sweet base running by Wallner to score.

Looked like a complete club last night even with Pablo struggling through 5.

It's almost like we have forgotten Royce Lewis, or assuming he's injured again and/or on another rehab assignment ... but man, it's great to see him healthy and playing, and playing well! Keep it up!

Royce Lewis is definitely back. We may need to encase him in bubble wrap or something, but dang he's good when he plays. 

Texas has been good this season; they have some big time players, and if not for Ohtani Seager would be the MVP (with Ohtani's injury, it's still possible Seager could take it if he continues to roll like he has been; dude has been awesome this year).  So this is a really big series for the Twins and taking the first game really helps.

Correa was clutch last night and that was great to see too. His double could not have come at a better time.

Winder really did the job last night. It would be great if he could be a guy who could be counted on to pitch 2 innings in the middle innings on those days when a starter isn't able to get deeper into a game, or even  when the bullpen needs a break. It's an important role to be more than just a mop-up guy and Winder did great last night. He's hard to figure out: really good breaking ball, good velocity on the fastball, but he's never been able to put it together consistently in MLB.

The bat flip was cool as hell, but I really like the hops looking into the dugout. It's always fun to me when dudes flip from mean mugging and posing to being little kids who are excited they made a fun baseball play and their friends are all excited.

3 minutes ago, JDubs said:

The bat flip was cool as hell, but I really like the hops looking into the dugout. It's always fun to me when dudes flip from mean mugging and posing to being little kids who are excited they made a fun baseball play and their friends are all excited.

I agree, the hop was much cooler than the bat flip! 

What happens if the defensive replacement for B uxton ends up hitting more homers than he does.?

Winder pitching 3 hitless innings was really a surprise. It almost seemed like he was forgotten since he had not pitched for a long time. I was surprised Rocco left him in for 3 innings and I expected Rocco to pull him after 1 or 2 innings. Every once in a while Rocco surprises me.

Any doubt this was the best Twins win of the season? 

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

I wonder if the strike box is a little out of calibration. So many low strikes just below the box by so many umps. I agree with some of the announcers that the velocity that has become common makes some sort of auto strike zone a must. I've been watching games since 1960, and the amount of miscalled balls and strikes have become so common over the last few years that something needs to be done.

The box is a little bit of a problem for showing balls and strikes because it's a flat plane rather than a 3D box of the strike zone. Home plate is big enough that a pitch can dip into or out of the strike zone and not always be reflected on the basic window they show on screen. And they've also said on the broadcast that what they show on screen isn't the exact zone that umpires are evaluated on (probably in part because the umpires are evaluated on a 3D box rather than a flat plane as well). The ones where it's tight on the border but look low or outside or whatever don't bother me much, so long as it's consistent. The ones where it was always 3-5 inches off the plate and they call it a strike drive me crazy.

Consistency is the most important thing, which is why I'm ready to go with the electronic zone. We still need a home plate umpire to handle the oddball stuff, keep the game going if the technology fails, resolve balks, tags, foul tips, etc. but giving them the electronic assist to keep the strike zone consistent would be good for the game. It's not fun to frequently be unhappy with the way they're calling balls and strikes.

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

This is in my head now.

Your fault... Thank you

Yeah, the coldest winter I experienced was the summer I spent in Duluth.

Great team win!

Winder was the hero yesterday with his great relief. But have you ever seen a strike zone so poorly called (or not) in that game? At least both sides had to suffer (or get the breaks). I almost always side with the umpires but yesterday was ridiculous. Was it because he didn't have his own mask? Who knows. And as far as umps having too much to do, maybe. But the rule about hitters having to be looking at the pitcher is just dumb (IMHO). It's the hitter's responsibility to be ready.

And as far as Rocco's decision to PH Jeffers, that was a no-brainer. If a manager makes a move and it works, he's a hero. If it fails, he's a bum. I judge a manager more by who he plays and what the lineup is. Our lineups are generally all over the place though they have gotten better lately. Also, a decision to try to move (bunt) a runner over into scoring position and other strategies will factor into how I judge a manager.

4 hours ago, Old Twins Cap said:

What happens if the defensive replacement for B uxton ends up hitting more homers than he does.?

Sign him to a hundred million dollar contract...