Theodore Tollefson

Thursday night was a tough night for the Twins organization all around. The Twins were on the verge of being swept by Houston (and when you read this, it likely has happened). Meanwhile, all of their minor-league affiliates lost all of their games without tallying more than five hits total in any of their games. The one bright spot in the minor league games was Louie Varland continuing his surge of dominance for his hometown team with his third start in a Saints uniform. TRANSACTIONS The Twins signed OF Billy Hamilton to a Minor League deal and assigned him to the Florida Complex League. Just days after the Twins released him, the team signed free agent RHP Michael Feliz to a minor-league contract and assigned him to St. Paul Saints. RHP Josh Winder was assigned to Low-A Fort Myers on Minor League Rehab. SAINTS SENTINEL Iowa 2, St. Paul 1 Box Score SP: Louie Varland - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: David Bañuelos (2-3, RBI (20), K) The Saints entered their third game against the Cubs in Des Moines Thursday night down 2-0 in the series. The team looked to North St. Paul native Louie Varland to lead the team to their first win since Sunday afternoon at home. St. Paul would strike first in the top of the second on a David Bañuelos RBI single that scored Nash Knight from second. That would be all the Saints needed while Varland remained on the mound. Varland dominated for the Saints in his third start since being called up to Triple AAA. He only allowed four base runners on three singles and a walk. Varland also retired nine consecutive batters before giving up his last hit of the night with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. He also struck out nine batters for the evening. The former Golden Eagle has yet to surrender a home run to an opposing batter since being called up to the Saints. In fact, Varland’s last home run surrendered came on July 29 against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Unfortunately for Varland, the Saints bats did not produce any runs following his removal from the game. The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly off of Evan Sisk. Then in the bottom of the ninth with Brad Peacock on the mound, the Cubs designated hitter Matt Mervies walked-off the Saints with a solo homer in the 2-1 loss. The Saints start at 7:08 p.m. CT for their game Friday night against the Cubs with Ronny Henriquez on the mound for them. WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 2, Wichita 1 Box Score SP: Daniel Gossett - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: Will Holland (2-3, R, 3B) The Wind Surge came into Thursday’s game having won the night before 4-0 against Frisco. Daniel Gossett made his first start since his no-hitter for the Wind Surge Thursday night and continued off the success he had that night. The bid for back-to-back no-hitters for Gossett ended in the first inning when he gave up a hit with two outs. That did not stop him from tossing a great outing. He went five innings and gave up only two additional hits and one run. He struck out two. Gossett’s command of the zone kept the Wind Surge in the game where the team's bats were silenced. Wichita scored the first run of the game on an RBI fielder's choice hit by Austin Martin in the top of the third. Frisco came along to tie the game off Gossett with a sacrifice fly out to center field. Martin’s RBI single accounted for the only run of the game for the Wind Surge. The game went into extra innings, but lefty Bryan Sammons walked consecutive batters in the bottom of the 10th inning to load the bases. Wichita dropped the game with a walk-off walk. The Wind Surge start their game against Frisco at 7:05 p.m. CT Friday night and left Kody Funderburk will make the start. KERNELS NUGGETS Lake County 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score SP: Luis Rijo 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K HR: Pat Winkel (6), Seth Gray (15) Multi-Hit games: Winkel (2-3, R, HR 2 RBI (28)) Cedar Rapids entered Thursday night dropping their first two games against the Lake County Captains and were hoping to keep themselves from a three-game losing streak with Luis Rijo on the mound. Unfortunately for the Kernels, the Captains got to Rijo early in the game. Rijo surrendered three runs (two earned) against the Captains, all in the bottom of the third inning. He was removed after giving up four straight hits with two outs in the inning. Derek Molina got the Kernels out of the inning. The Captains managed to create more damage against the Kernels relievers in the fifth adding two more runs, and then the sixth inning when they scored three more. The hitters for the Kernels were quiet until the seventh inning. They managed two runs thanks to catcher Pat Winkel’s two-run shot. They made a small comeback but were still down 8-2 following the inning. When the Kernels looked to be down and out of the game in the top of the ninth, Seth Gray hit a two-run homer. Even with the extra pop at the plate, the Kernels still dropped the game 8-4. The Kernels will play their next game against the Captains early Friday evening with a 5:35 CDT start time. David Festa will make the start for the Kernels. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1 : Lakeland 6, Fort Myers 3 Box Score SP: Josh Winder 2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Misael Urbina (5) Multi-Hit games: None The Mighty Mussels played two games against the Lakeland Flying Tigers Thursday and game one had Josh Winder on the mound for the start of his rehab assignment. Winder did not fare well in the two innings he pitched. He allowed four runs on three hits and two walks. The good news out of Winder’s bad rehab start is his fastball velocity averaged 92.7 mph while his max velocity hit 94.7 mph. The Mighty Mussels bats looked like their Major League big brothers as they only tallied two hits in the first game. One was a leadoff solo home run by center fielder Misael Urbina. Johnathan Lavallee came on to pitch following Winder’s removal from the game. Lavallee threw three innings and gave up two earned runs on a walk and two hits but struck out four in his relief outing. Game 2 : Lakeland 1, Ft. Myers 0 Box Score SP: Pierson Ohl 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-Hit games: None In Game 2. the Mussels had Pierson Ohl on the mound for his 17th start of the season. Ohl went four strong innings and allowed only one run on four hits. He struck out five. The Mussels bats only managed three hits while being shut out. Fort Myers has only one game against Lakeland on Friday which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. CT. Marco Raya will make the start for the Mighty Mussels TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Hitter of the Day – Pat Winkel (Cedar Rapids - 2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI (28) PROSPECT SUMMARY We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed: #2 - Brooks Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, R, K #4 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-3, RBI (22), K #7 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - Game 1: 0-2, R, BB, K, Game 2: 0-3, BB #9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-3, HBP, K #12 - Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K #14 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-3, BB #18 - Tanner Schobel (Fort Myers) - Game 2: 0-3, 3 K #20 - Kala'i Rosario (Fort Myers) - Game 2: 1-3 FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS All Twins Minor League Affiliates play night games on Friday. Here are the start times and probables for their games. Toledo @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) - Ronny Henriquez vs Matt Swarmer Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Kody Funderburk vs. RHP Zak Kent Cedar Rapids @ Lake County (5:35 PM CST) - David Festa vs TBD Clearwater @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - Marco Raya vs TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday's games View full article

Yep, damn it. I did it again. I wish I could clone Duran for y'all based off these charts, alas, I cannot.

The Twins opened a four-game series against the Rangers on Friday night with a .500 record (11-11) against AL West opponents this season. The Twins put themselves up early on back-to-back homers, but could they keep the lead with limited run support thereafter? Box Score SP: Dylan Bundy 5.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (71 pitches, 51 strikes (71.8 strike %)) Home Runs: Luis Arraez (7), Jose Miranda (13) Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Dylan Bundy .255, Jhoan Duran .118, Luis Arraez .096 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Dylan Bundy started his night off with ease pitching against the minimum on 10 pitches. The bats picked up Bundy for a lead immediately as Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda hit back-to-back homers to put the Twins up 2-0, making it only the fourth time this season Twins hitters have done so. Through the first three innings, Bundy remained in control of the strike zone only allowing a leadoff single to Adolis Garcia in the second and a two-out walk to Marcus Semien in the third. Bundy’s strike percentage remained at 71.4% hitting 25 of his 35 pitches in the strike zone. Bundy continued the success of his first three innings into the fourth retiring the minimum on eight pitches. The Twins bats remained quiet in the fourth. Jorge Polanco drew a one-out walk but could not get home as Gilberto Celestino struck out looking and Max Kepler hit into the shift to end the inning. Bundy remained in control in the fifth inning too. He had a streak of retiring five consecutive batters on flyouts or line drives and kept his pitch count down to 57 (41 strikes) through five. The concerning thing for the Twins against Martin Perez Friday night was having five of their six strikeouts against him looking. The only Twins batter to protect the plate while striking out was Byron Buxton leading off the game. The Twins mounted a threat against Perez in the bottom of the fifth. Both Buxton and Arraez drew walks to put runners on for Miranda with two out. Up to that at-bat, Miranda had been hitting .258/.287/.381 with two outs on the season in 102 plate appearances. The numbers would only drop as Miranda struck out swinging to end the fifth. Bundy’s night would be over after two batters faced to start the sixth. Baldelli had seen enough warning track fly balls throughout the game to pull him before he could face Corey Seager a third time. Caleb Thielbar came in relief to face the next two lefties. Going into the matchup, lefties had been hitting .167/.258/.241 with a .499 OPS on the season. Thielbar struck out Seager but was not able to retire Nate Lowe as he laced an RBI single just out of the reach of Byron Buxton in center field. Thielbar got out of the jam in the next at-bat striking out Adolis Garcia. Trevor Megill was on the mound for the seventh and found himself in a jam with two outs, giving up a single and a walk with runners on the corners. Megill got out of the jam with help from Buxton on a flyout to center. The score remained 2-1 Twins. If the Twins wanted to make an epic entrance for a reliever that is in competition with Edwin Diaz of the Mets, they have found that guy with Jhoan Duran. Duran came in for the eighth and lit up the radar gun, topping out at 103.1 mph and retiring the heart of the Rangers' order. Jorge Lopez came in for the save as the game remained at 2-1. Twins fans shifted the usual chant of hip, hip Jorge, affiliated with Polanco, to Lopez for the save. Lopez did issue back-to-back one-out walks to Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras. Helm’s pinch runner Charlie Culberson overran himself to get to third on Brad Miller’s flyout. The Rangers challenged the call but it stood and the Twins game ended with excitement for all fans. Even with the scoreless inning streak snapped at 31 innings for the Twins tonight. The relievers continued a consecutive scoreless streak of their own Friday tossing 3.2 scoreless innings of relief that added to four game streak of no earned runs from the bullpen. What’s Next? Saturday’s game will start at 6:10 p.m. CT against the Rangers. Chris Archer will be on the mound for the Twins while righty Glenn Otto goes for the Rangers. There will be a pregame ceremony for Ron Gardenhire’s entry into the Twins Hall of Fame. Postgame Interview None due to Apple TV broadcast. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins have their annual team Hall of Fame inductions this weekend at Target Field. To kick things off Friday, Ron Gardenhire and fellow inductee Dan Gladden met with the media prior to the Twins vs. Rangers. Then "Gardy" went and did a little bartending. Ron Gardenhire is fired up, really fired up to be back at Target Field this weekend. But not at the same heat index Rocco Baldelli found himself at two weeks ago against the Blue Jays. Gardenhire’s response to Baldelli’s ejection on August 7rh? “Oh my god. That was the best [ejection] ever! If I would have had his number, I would have called him. That was good stuff right there. The call was an absolute joke. My wife almost kicked me out of the house. That’s how mad I was. Rocco was awesome, I just went in there and told him.” Again, Gardy’s excitement remains at a hot level for his team hall of fame induction as he shared alongside Dan Gladden. “For me, it’s pretty fired up to get your name put up with a selective few Twins is pretty special, especially with Gladden. I think back to '91 all the time. He’s standing at third base. He’s screaming at me. I’m screaming at him. We can’t hear each other. So now to watch him go into the Twins Hall of Fame, well deserved, a big fan favorite, always has been. And I’m just happy to be here,” said Gardenhire. “See how he deflects?” responded Gladden. “I’m the manager, that’s what I’m supposed to do,” responded Gardenhire. Gardenhire’s legacy with the Twins is not completely over as his son, Toby Gardenhire, currently manages the St. Paul Saints. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli had not yet spoken to Ron Gardenhire before his pre-game press conference but talked about his correspondence with Toby. “I talk to Toby a fair amount. He gives me some updates [on Ron], I think he's doing great. But it'll be fun, I think it'll be a lot of people in the house, too, that are pretty excited about cheering on the guys that are going in,” said Baldelli. Toby Gardenhire will be taking the day off from the Saints on Saturday to attend his dad’s Twins induction. Saints bench coach Tyler Smarslok will be acting manager in his place. When it comes to his speech preparation, Gardenhire is ready for what he has but has no anticipation of emotions flooding over him during the speech. “I don’t think so, I think it’s just a proud moment for me, proud for my family. My grandbabies, I have about four or five of them now. It’s been really hard to concentrate on everything but them, so I’m excited to be out there. My wife and I tried to write a script here and make it quick and not make it last a long time like (Justin) Morneau did last year.” “That won’t be broken,” Gladden interjected. During Friday night’s game, Gardenhire was the celebrity bartender at the Gray Duck deck on the main concourse, underneath the retired numbers in Twins franchise history. Gardenhire’s entry into the Twins Hall of Fame comes eight years after his last game as a manager with the Twins and two years from his retirement from the game as a whole. Gardenhire is second all-time in Twins franchise wins (1,068) for a manager behind two-time world champion Tom Kelly (1,140). Gardenhire and Gladden both worked under Kelly together for a total of five seasons and reminisced on some of their memories from that time. Saturday’s ceremony for Gardenhire’s Twins Hall of Fame induction begins approximately a half hour before the game’s first pitch at 6:10 p.m. CT. Fans can tune into Bally Sports North to catch the ceremony prior to the game. View full article

After an awful walk off loss on Saturday night, the Twins went into their series finale against the Angels on a mission to regroup and prove to themselves they are still a playoff contending team. That mission failed as the Twins dropped their second series of a five-game road trip returning home with only one win. Box Score: SP: Chris Archer 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (65 pitches, 45 strikes (65.8 strike %)) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (28) Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Chris Archer -.168, Jose Miranda .-126, Jorge Polanco -.110 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The first two innings for the Twins were all Byron Buxton and Chris Archer. Buxton put the Twins up 2-0 in the first with his 28th homer of the season, Correa being the other run scoring and reaching on a walk in the previous at bat. Archer continued from the progress of control he had shown in his previous start against the Blue Jays. For his first two innings, 21 of 29 Archer’s pitches were in the strike zone and he struck out half of the batters he faced to get outs as well. Command of the strike zone began to slip for Archer in the third. Archer threw 22 pitches to that point, but only 11 landed in the strike zone as he issued his first walk of the game against Shohei Ohtani which put Archer in a jam with two on and two out facing Luis Rengifo. Rengifo tied the game up 2-2 with a bases-clearing double making contact on a slider high in the strike zone and away. Archer averted further damage striking out Tyler Ward in the next at-bat with only three strikes. Still, the Twins found themselves tied once more and needed to mount the offense for another comeback for the second day in a row. The Twins failed to break the tie in the top of the fourth. This gave the Angels an opportunity to do so. And they did. Jo Adell led off the bottom half of the inning with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly from former Twin Kurt Suzuki that put the Angels up 3-2. The Twins did get their first base runner since Buxton’s homer in the fifth with a two-out Sandy Leon double. Luis Arraez followed up next but failed to drive him home. Archer’s afternoon would be done after four innings and mark his second straight start of allowing one or fewer walks. Archer last accomplished this feat in June during his June 19 start against the Diamondbacks with no walks, and his June 25 start against the Rockies with one walk. Trevor Megill would come into the game in place of Archer. Carlos Correa ended the 5th after Ohtani walked. Ohtani attempted to steal a base off Megill but Leon made a perfect throw right to Correa, who didn’t even turn his head to tag Ohtani out and keep the game at 3-2, Angels. The game would remain uneventful for the Twins hitters over the next two innings. Buxton provided the only excitement in the top of the sixth with a single and his fifth stolen base of the season. Pitching-wise, things got as ugly as usual. Megill continued to work the sixth, found himself in a jam of two on and two out but averted any damage. Michael Fulmer, who pitched the seventh, found himself in the same jam with one out and gave up an RBI single to Ohtani to make it a 4-2 Angels lead. The Angels came close to scoring another run in the next at-bat but Jorge Polanco threw out the runner advancing home to keep the score at 4-2. The Twins could not follow up Polanco’s smart defensive play with any offense for the rest of the game. Correa managed the only hit for the Twins in the game's final two innings while the Angels took home a win and series victory to finish out the Twins five game road trip What’s Next? The Twins return home Monday for a seven-game homestand. The first series is against the Royals beginning Monday night at 6:40 p.m. Joe Ryan is scheduled to make the start for the Twins against the Royals Kris Bubic. Postgame Interview (Bally Sports Tweets) Coming soon. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Thanks Melissa! It was certainly a treat to speak with Millar and cover this moment for him.

SAINT PAUL – 30 years after beginning his professional career with the Saints, Kevin Millar returns to his first baseball home to see his jersey number 15 retired. The St. Paul Saints cowboyed up the number 15 for all time in honor of 1993 Saint Kevin Millar. As the Saints celebrated their 30th year, Millar became the first player in Saints history to have their jersey number retired. “This year I have my jersey retired at Lamar University in June and we [Millar’s family] talked about coming out here in August and it's truly an honor. While you're playing, all I did was I love baseball, and I wasn’t the best player on the field. I just loved the game more than anybody. Now to look back and you don't realize, as a player, some of the lives that you touch along the way and the fans,” said Millar. Throughout his professional career, Millar had three separate stints with the Saints. The first came in 1993. He was the primary third baseman for the team and played in 63 games hitting .260 with five home runs and 30 RBI. Millar’s '93 performance was impressive to the eyes of Saints co-owner Mike Veeck, who referred him to the Florida Marlins in a September scouting phone call. On September 20, 1993, the Marlins purchased Millar’s contract from the Saints and the rest is history. Millar’s ties to the state of Minnesota date back further than his 1993 season with the Saints. Millar’s uncle Wayne Nordhagen, born in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, played eight seasons in the big leagues making his MLB debut with the White Sox in 1976. Nordhagen debuted with the same jersey number his nephew had retired Saturday evening. Millar remembered the influence his uncle had on him as both a person and a ball player saying, “I looked up to him. He’s still doing great. Everybody always asked, who's your favorite player. As a Dodgers fan, it was Pedro Guerrero. But my uncle Wayne was always here for me. He would always tell me, do your push-ups and get your hands strong. When the White Sox would play the Angels, and he would not start, he was on the bench, so I wasn’t a big fan of Tony LaRussa for that.” One of the highlights of that 1993 season for Millar was playingwithg his first Baseball Hall of Fame teammate, who just entered Cooperstown this year; Minnie Minoso. Minoso also played alongside his uncle Nordhagen during the 1976 and 1980 seasons. In addition to Minoso, Nordhagen also played with Millar’s 1993 Saints teammate Leon Durham. For Millar, this was the next best thing to having his uncle as a teammate as Nordhagen retired after the 1983 season. “Going full circle, you had Leon Durham who played with Wayne with the Cubs in '83 with him and Minoso who played with the White Sox, with uncle Wayne. I was always a fan of Minnie, and here he was playing a game for us, I think it was his sixth or seventh decade. That's what makes the Saints unbelievable is all the different and the cool stuff that they do. It makes it all fun. It's baseball and you're having fun,” said Millar. Not only will Millar be a Saint forever, but he also leaves a legacy behind that helped pioneer a path to the Majors for independent league players who go undrafted. A recent example of this is Cold Spring, Minnesota’s own Joey Stock, who is currently a relief pitcher with the Boston Red Sox High A affiliate, the Greenville Drive. (Get to know more about Joey Stock here.) Stock was signed as an undrafted free agent after pitching the 2020 Northwoods League season with the St. Cloud Rox. With his jersey retired, Millar joins former Saints coach Wayne Terwilliger (number 22) and manager George Tsamis (number 5) as the third number retired in franchise history. Millar reflected on his last leg with the Saints as a player and coming back for the highest honor any sports franchise can bestow on a player. “At 38, I knew I'd come back here and finish my career. Then seven years later getting back here at 45 years old hit a home run on the second pitch of my only at-bat. Doesn't make sense, but it happened. Now my jersey is retired and it's such a great honor. I'm so thankful, so blessed for this opportunity because I really truly believe that the Saints family is part of my family.” View full article

The Twins clubhouse started the day with somber news of Alex Kirilloff being shut down for the season as they looked to complete a series victory over the Blue Jays Sunday. The Twins lost on a controversial overturn as umpires in New York cost the game for them on a bad replay call that had Rocco Baldelli more fired than ever before and Twins fans raging from coast to coast. Box Score SP: Chris Archer 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (79 pitches, 52 strikes (65.8 strike %)) Home Runs: None Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler -.303, Nick Gordon -.282, Gio Urshela -.243 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Chris Archer made the start for the Twins. He came into the game with three consecutive starts of three or more walks allowed, Archer was hoping to have better control of the strike zone Sunday afternoon. For his first inning of work, Archer retired the minimum on 15 pitches, 12 strikes. When the time came for the Twins to hit, Jorge Polanco was practically given a free pass to get on base. The Blue Jays opted for a four-man outfield against Polanco, who was hitting lefty against Kevin Gausman. With that, it opened up the entirety of the left side of the infield for Polanco to lace a half-swing single and reach base. Even with greater control of the strike zone, the Blue Jays still made Archer hurt in the second inning as Teoscar Hernandez led off with a single on the first pitch and Bo Bichette followed with an RBI double on the first pitch of his at-bat to make it 1-0 Blue Jays. The Jays wouldn’t score any more runs against Archer in the second but worked him to throw 30 pitches in the inning, only expediting Cole Sands appearance out of the bullpen. The Jays bats would strike again against Archer in the top of the third as Cavan Biggio led off with another double and scored on the next at-bat off a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. RBI single. That would be the only run allowed by Archer in the third as the Jays now led 2-0. As Archer settled down to retire the Blue Jays with no runs or walks allowed through his five innings of work, only Luis Arraez managed to get on base for the Twins after the Blue Jays scored their second run. Both times were on singles but the Twins failed to make contact as easily as the last time they faced Gausman on Sunday, June 5. Archer was done for the afternoon after five innings of work and did not allow any walks in his five innings, making it his first start since June 19 against the Diamondbacks, without allowing any walks. To everyone’s surprise, Sands was not the first arm out of the Twins bullpen to replace Archer on the mound. Instead it was every Twins fan “favorite” Emilio Pagan. Pagan would come out of the sixth earlier than expected due to a shoulder injury. He only allowed one hit, a single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and worked a 2-2 count to Hernandez before being removed from the game with a right lat cramp. Sands came in to finish the at-bat against Hernandez, and he doubled. Bichette followed with a five-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout and kept the Jays lead at 2-0. The Twins were finally able to get a run on the board in the bottom of the eighth as Polanco reached base on his second hit of the game. Two at-bats later, rookie sensation Jose Miranda drove in Polanco, marking at least one RBI in all games against the Blue Jays in this series. Miranda’s RBI made it a 2-1 score. Sands pitched an effective three innings of relief for the Twins and was pulled after totaling 51 pitches and allowing Alejandro Kirk on with a hit and two outs in the top of the ninth. Caleb Thielbar was called in to get the final out and achieved that, keeping it a run one game for the Twins to try and walk-off the Blue Jays for the season. Carlos Correa came in as a pinch hitter for Jake Cave in the bottom of the ninth. Correa reached base, getting clipped by a pitch in the shoulder. Tim Beckham came in as a pinch runner for Correa which brought up another walk-off opportunity for Byron Buxton. Buxton disappointed fans with a three-pitch strikeout, looking at a pitch that went right down the middle from Jordan Romano. Fortunately for Twins fans, Gary Sanchez kept the game alive after Buxton’s strikeout. Sanchez got a single that advanced Beckham to third, giving Arraez a chance to tie the game. And tie the game he did as he laced a single to right field scoring Beckham. Arraez’s game-tying hit made it his 12th three or more hit game for 2022. Polanco followed Arraez with a fielder’s choice groundout with the force at second base. This at least advanced Sanchez to third with runners on the corners, two outs and Max Kepler at the plate. Kepler pulled the ball to the first baseman, sending the game into extras. As the Twins went into extras, Whit Merrifield came in as the Manfred Man on second for the Jays. He advanced to third on a flyout by Santiago Espinal but in the next at-bat, Merrifield once again tried to tag and score on a flyout to left. However, Beckham, playing left field for the second time this season, nailed Merrifield out at home as it was originally called. The call was overturned by umpires in New York based off of Merrfield placing his slide directly into Sanchez's knee. Even as the video showed that Sanchez did allow Merrifield a lane to the plate, the Blue Jays gained a run for a 3-2 lead. This also led to Rocco Baldelli’s most fired-up ejection of his managing career as he asked why the call was overturned due to catcher interference. The Twins got out of the inning without surrendering more runs, but the damage was already done to them from people 1,200 miles away from Target Field. What’s Next? The Twins are off Monday and will head to the Los Angeles area for five games in six days. The first series starts Tuesday against the Dodgers at 9:10 p.m. CT with Joe Ryan scheduled to start for the Twins. Ryan will match up against one of many Dodger lefties, Julio Urias. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

Thank you Thiéres! Certainly my favorite to write for TD to date

Prior to the start of the Twins, Blue Jays game on Thursday, August 4, 2022, members of the Twins and Blue Jays broadcast teams and press corps shared their memories and lessons learned from the great Vin Scully, who passed away at the age of 94 on Tuesday, August 2. Atteberry clip on Scully being his dad's first LA friend.mp3 Schulman Clip on Scully Grocery List (8-4-22).mp3 Late Tuesday night, America lost the greatest voice to ever sit behind a microphone and call a sporting event; Vin Scully. Mr. Scully died at the age of 94 and was the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950-2016, totaling 67 years with the franchise. Although he will be remembered best as the voice of the Dodgers, Mr. Scully was more than a voice for Dodger Baseball. From 1975-82, Mr. Scully called NFL games for CBS in addition to tennis and golf matches aired by the network. In addition to all this, Mr. Scully was a mentor for many, whether directly or indirectly throughout their careers. Prior to the Twins, Blue Jays game at Target Field on August 4, members of both the Twins and Blue Jays broadcast crews and beat report reminisced about Mr. Scully's impact on their careers and lives. Dick Bremer, Twins TV Play-by-play “Growing up I watched as much of the games as I could. But the weekday games are in the afternoon when I was in school, right? With that announcing team, I knew Ray Scott, because back then they would take an announcer from the Dodgers and an announcer from another team. Ray Scott was doing Twins games at the time. Back then as a kid, I had no concept of the fact that this guy had been with the Dodgers going back to the Brooklyn Dodgers. As I grew through adolescence, then adulthood, and developed a career in this business. I was just so incredibly impressed with who he was, what he meant to the game, and how he went about his craft. It was my pleasure to meet him in 2005, and get the chance to express to him as so many others did, how much he's meant to the game of baseball. And for those of us who are trying to do what he did.” “We tend to forget he was a really good NFL and golf announcer. He gave the impression, and I think it was genuine, that there was no place he'd rather be than at that sporting event. That's something that hopefully, now that he's gone, those of us who have been blessed to be able to do this. And especially the younger guys who are going to be doing it now for the next few decades. They appreciate how well he did his job, but also how he did his job. And it wasn't about him. It's never about Vin Scully. It's about the players, and what’s happening to them because that's what people want to know. The irony is people I'm sure tuned in to him just to listen to him. But he never gave you that impression. He was still about what's happening to the people.” Bremer Clip on Scully's Castro bat.mp3 Dan Schulman, Blue Jays TV Play-by-play “I don't remember the first time but it was when I would have been doing ESPN Dodger games in the late 90s. Once I got to Sunday Night Baseball [calling Dodger games], Vin wasn't there because only Sunday Night Baseball was there. So this was a long time ago in the 90s. And he was just the kindest, most considerate man. I'd go up and introduce myself to him, shake his hand and ‘oh, I know who you are.’ He just had time for everybody with such a good soul and a good heart. Indisputably the greatest baseball announcer who's ever been and you could listen to him talk about anything, and it was riveting. That's a skill and a gift very few people have, but he got a double dose of it.” Schulman Clip on Scully Grocery List (8-4-22).mp3 Cory Provus, Twins Radio Play-by-play “I met Vin in 2007, my first year working the Cubs broadcast, and I remember we were out in LA and I asked Pat Hughes - he’s going to be in the hall of fame one day himself - and asked him, ‘Hey can you do me a favor? Can you introduce me to Vin?” He [Hughes] said, absolutely. And then Pat sees Vin and Vin in that beautiful voice says “Paaat”. I was right there, Pat said hello, shook his hand. Then he said ‘I want to introduce you to the new member of our team. This is Cory Provus. ‘Cory, nice to meet you. Vin Scully.” And you never forget that that's all. And this was pre iPhone, I had flip phones I couldn't take a picture of it was never one of those kinds of things. There was a sign outside the Dodgers TV booth. I don't know if it's still there. But it was when Vin was doing games. It said, 'Do Not Enter, On the Air.' It's kind of like, ah probably shouldn't go in. But inside that booth was the most welcoming warm man imaginable. So there’s this uninviting don't enter sign but that was anything but the case for the man inside. He was incredibly kind and welcoming. He was with the Dodgers TV booth, the first booth down this long hallway. I forgot what inning it was but he would do a daily nightly walk down the hallway. The radio booth for the visiting team was towards the other end of the hallway. So you would see then, I don't know if it was the fifth, sixth, or seventh inning, but he would walk down the hallway and you'd see Vin walk right by your booth and say ‘Just my nightly stroll, that's all.' He just a wonderful man and I was lucky enough to meet him just a few times. Provus Clip on Mr. Scully Personal Influence for Broadcasting.mp3 Kris Attebery, Twins Radio Studio Host “I was still doing the postgame show when the news broke. We had one segment left, Gina [producer for Twins radio] looked through the glass and kept saying what’s wrong, and I went, Vin died. And I'm like well, we gotta get through the same segment. So I was on the highlights and then I just said on air, Hey, if I don't sound enthusiastic, here's why that we just kind of off the top expository tribute for a couple of minutes. But yeah, that one hurts.” "Growing up in Montana, I didn’t have any teams but we had AM radio and signals traveled forever. So Vin was game of the week for me, so you would get Vin once a week. Later on, as I got older, you could at night in your car, you could pick up the Cardinals or the Giants and you could get the Dodgers on a good night and you could hear it on the radio. It was amazing." "He would reference a story or a book and I read that book, you know, that's what it was for me. You would come away from listening to Vin do a game and you'd want to do a deeper dive on what he was talking about. He told a story that alluded to x. I should read that when he tells someone about the Odyssey, let me get in on that. I want to read more. He always made you want to, to ask more, learn more, read more." Atteberry clip on Scully being his dad's first LA friend.mp3 Dan Hayes, Twins Beat Writer for the Athletic "Whether it's Dodger Stadium or at Petco Park occasionally you’d run into Vin Scully in the elevator. Even if it was like 30 seconds, it was gonna be the greatest part of the day because he was always beyond cheerful. You could tell he'd never had a bad day in his life, or that day was the greatest day. It flowed out of just how much he loved life and baseball, and he made you, as little stature as you had next to him, feel like a king. The personality was just so generous. It just was something he didn't have to do but he always did." Phil Miller, Twins Beat Writer for the Star Tribune "This is a year after he retired from broadcasting, so I'm kind of surprised to see him there. He was standing outside the clubhouse, hard to miss. It was early in the day, and I don't know where Molitor was, but he said he was just gonna say hi to Molitor. But I guess it's still hard. He asked if I liked working with Paul. I said, great baseball mind. I've learned more from him than anyone I've ever known. And Vin said, ‘Yes, he's got a reputation there for being a good teacher.’ "I said the best coach I ever saw was Jerry Sloan. I covered the Utah Jazz for six years and he was the coach. We stood there for 10 minutes talking about Jazz basketball and Jerry Sloan. Vin’s a great storyteller. but I got some stories about Jerry. He's [Sloan] a singular personality. very driven, very high standards. I just told Vin about all that. How simple Sloan's rules were but how people followed them and what a great teacher he was. That was it but the thing that I remember about it was that he knew Sloan, he knew something about the Jazz, and he seemed really interested about it all and asked 10 minutes of questions. I felt like I was being interviewed a little bit. And I always thought it was too bad that he was retired then because I always thought I'd turn on a Dodger game someday and hear Vin say, ‘And that reminds me about a story about Jerry Sloan.’ But I was just really impressed with how he drew information out. You know, that was the thing he did on the broadcast and shared this stuff that you never thought of, that you have never heard before." These voices from the broadcast booth and press box are only a small sample size of the larger impact Mr. Scully had on those who cover the game of baseball. Rarely are there people like Mr. Scully where their actions and impact of his hard work and kindness can be found in even the smallest of people that work to make sure baseball is played every day. Even if everyone cannot tell a story like Mr. Scully could, everyone still has a Mr. Scully story of their own to keep the legacy of America’s greatest broadcaster alive for generations to come. View full article

Target Field was filled with visitors from the Northland, country music fans and some who identify as both Thursday night as the Twins opened a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays entered the series three games better than the Twins and tacked on six runs in the eighth to expand that lead by one. Box Score SP: Sonny Gray 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 5 K (78 pitches, 56 strikes (71.7 strike %)) Home Runs: Jake Cave (1) Bottom 3 WPA: Emilio Pagan -.422, Jake Cave -.157, Luis Arraez -.098 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The first inning of the game was all pitching for both sides. Sonny Gray, making his third start of the second half, only allowed one walk and retired Teoscar Hernandez on a 5-3 groundout that had its ruling overturned as a single. All-star Alek Manoah was on the mound for the Jays and retired the minimum with the Twins lineup getting Luis Arraez and Carlos Correa on flyouts and striking out Byron Buxton. The people who came to Target Field Thursday night for a concert would be in for a treat of a pitcher's duel. Manoah’s streak of dominance would last through the next two innings as he continued to retire the minimum in the second and third against the Twins. Gray would only allow a walk to Matt Chapman in those same innings. The perfect game bid remained for Manoah into the fourth but with one out, Correa hit a line drive single back to the mound. The deflection off Manoah’s glove hit him so quickly that he couldn’t recover the ball in time as Correa reached first base. After getting Buxton out on a groundout, Manoah walked Jorge Polanco and Nick Gordon to get the bases loaded for Jose Miranda. Miranda worked a 2-2 count in his favor and received the nasty end of a Manoah fast ball that drilled him in his left arm. Miranda remained in the game following the hit by pitch which also scored Correa to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Twins didn’t capitalize to score more runs with the bases loaded and walked back to the dugout with the first lead of the game. Gray held down the lead for the Twins in the top of the fifth even as he got into a jam with two outs. Gray walked the leadoff man Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and a two out single to Cavan Biggio. This brought George Springer up to the plate with runners on first and second. Gray and Springer dueled to get a full count with Springer winning the battle to get the bases loaded for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Gray worked Guerrero Jr. to a 2-2 count and eventually got him out on a ground out to Correa at short to keep the Twins in front 1-0. The Twins got a runner on in the bottom of the fifth with a Gary Sanchez one out walk but Arraez and Correa came up short trying to get him home to add to their lead. Gray was done for the evening following the fifth as he had thrown 96 pitches with only 50 hitting the strike zone. This brought in Emilio Pagan for the sixth. With one out in the inning, Pagan gave up a home run to Teoscar Hernandez that landed in the second deck of left field to tie the game 1-1. Bo Bichette followed with a double to put the lead run into scoring position for Guerriel Jr. He was able to get Bichette in on an RBI single putting the Jays up 2-1. The Twins looked to be out of the jam as Whit Merrifield hit a ball to Miranda. Miranda’s throw to first was scooped by Arraez but fell out of his glove, scoring another run to make it 3-1 Blue Jays. Pagan eventually got out of the jam but the damage was done as the Blue Jays now led 3-1 over the Twins going into the bottom of the sixth. Buxton led the inning off with a strikeout but Polanco drew a walk to follow and Gordon advanced both himself and Polanco with a double to right-center field to give the Twins with two runners in scoring position for Miranda. Miranda, looking to shake off the pain inflicted from a Manoah pitch earlier in the game, hit two foul balls off Manoah. The second went right into the hands of Dick Bremer as Miranda fouled it into the Twins broadcast booth. Following that, Miranda got an RBI fielder's choice to get the Twins back within a run. The Twins were down 3-2 going into the seventh with Trevor Megill on the mound. Megill pitched well in the seventh as he only allowed one base runner on a Guerrero Jr. double. Coming up short once again in the seventh, the Blue Jays took advantage of a cold Twins lineup for their turn in the eighth. The Jays added six more runs on six hits and a walk, including a three-run home run from Guerrero Jr. to give Toronto a 9-2 lead. After a bumbling eighth, Duffey remained on the mound for the Twins ninth already having thrown 25 pitches. Duffey avoided any further runs being surrendered to the Jays. The Twins did not go down quietly in the ninth as Jake Cave hit his first home run since returning to the Twins clubhouse earlier in the week. Cave’s home run would not be enough to start a rally as the Jays would shut down the Twins after Cave’s home run. What’s Next? The Twins will play their second of four games against the Blue Jays Friday night with Tyler Mahle expected to make his debut with the team following his trade. Former Twin Jose Berrios is scheduled to make the start for the Blue Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

What looked to be a promising, low-scoring affair to get a win over the Padres turned into another bullpen loss as the Twins dropped the series finale Sunday in San Diego before returning home for a seven-game homestand. Box Score SP: Dylan Bundy 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (78 pitches, 56 strikes (71.7 strike %)) Home Runs: Luis Arraez (6), Jose Miranda (10) Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Polanco -.125, Kyle Garlick -.121, Byron Buxton -.107 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Sean Manaea made the start for the Padres and had a rocky first inning as he walked Byron Buxton to lead off the game and later Jorge Polanco with one out. Neither Polanco or Buxton would score, though, as Manaea retired Kyle Garlick and Jose Miranda to get out of the inning. On the Twins side of the mound, Dylan Bundy had the start. Bundy held the Padres to one hit in his first two innings of work, but gave up a home run to Jurickson Profar in the bottom of the third for the first run of the game giving the Padres a 1-0 lead. The Twins had been without a hit the first time through the batting order and carried that into the top of the fifth inning. That was until Luis Arraez crushed a solo home run to tie the game, leading off the inning. He raised his league leading batting average back to the .335 mark. Following Arraez, Tim Beckham, who made his 2022 season debut on Sunday, hit a single up the middle to give the Twins their fourth base runner of the day. Gilberto Celestino followed up with a hit of his own and Caleb Hamilton was able to advance both runners on a sacrifice bunt. With runners in scoring position, Buxton came to the plate with a big RBI opportunity. Buxton hit the first pitch of his at-bat to the foul net near first base and what looked like a catch by Eric Hosmer, turned out to be a trap after the ball hit the net before it landed in Hosmer’s glove. The original call of the play was an out but the Twins challenged and it was overturned to be a foul ball as the umpire crew gave the Twins a second straight game with a big break. However, Buxton failed to drive in a run as he struck out. The Padres decided to intentionally walk Carlos Correa, giving Polanco an opportunity to do some damage with the bases loaded. However, he also failed to drive in any runs as he grounded out to the shortstop on the second pitch of his at-bat. Although the Twins lineup couldn’t capitalize on that bases loaded opportunity, Dylan Bundy shut down the Padres lineup to keep the game tied 1-1 through the bottom of the fifth. Thankfully for the Twins, they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to add runs in the top of the sixth as Jose Miranda had another solo home run of his own. The game went downhill for the Twins following Miranda’s home run. with runners on the corners and no outs, and facing the Padres order a third time, Rocco Baldelli pulled Bundy with his pitch count at 78 through five. In came Emilio Pagan and the former Padre’s old teammates took advantage of him working back-to-back days. The Padres were able to retake the lead on two singles surrendered by Pagan with Jake Cronenworth and Luke Voit getting the runs batted in. This gave the Padres a 3-2 lead and it held as the final score of the game. The Twins went nine up and nine down in the final three frames of the game while the Padres came close to adding more runs to their win in the bottom of the seventh when Garlick made an error on a routine fly ball to left. The win for the Padres brings their overall record to 57-46 on the season while the Twins fall to 53-48. The Twins now only lead Cleveland by one game for the AL Central lead and the White Sox by two games. What’s Next? The Twins return home Monday to start a three-game series against the Tigers. The month of August will also see the most home games in one month in Target Field history as the Twins are set to play 20 of their 28 games for the month at home. The starters for both the Twins and Tigers are yet to be announced for Monday night with first pitch at 6:40 p.m. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

The Twins finished their quick two game pit stop in Detroit with another win, making up for their first trip to the Motor City this season. The win gave the Twins a slight cushion over the Guardians and White Sox, while Jose Miranda had one of his best games. Box Score SP: Sonny Gray 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (84 pitches, 55 strikes (65.4 strike %)) Home Runs: None Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Sonny Gray .237, Jorge Polanco .088, Jose Miranda .076 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The Twins wasted no time getting runs on the board to start Sunday afternoon in Detroit. Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco got back-to-back one out hits on a single and double and Correa scored first on a Max Kepler RBI fielder's choice where he reached base safely. In the next at-bat, Alex Kirilloff drove in Polanco on an E3 advancing himself to second and Kepler to third. Following Kirilloff’s at-bat, Tigers starter Rony Garica lost complete control of the strike zone as he hit back-to-back hitters with pitches. First Nick Gordon, then Jose Miranda who drove in Kepler with abases-loadedd RBI. The Twins fell short of sending all hitters up to the plate in the top of the first as the inning of errors ended with Gio Urshela grounding into a double play. Sonny Gray kept the Tigers scoreless in the first two innings retiring the minimum in that frame. During the top of the third, another Twins batter was hit by a pitch, this time Kepler, who was hit hard in the wrong spot that he needed to come out of the game and was replaced by Gilberto Celestino in right. The substitution of Celestino shifted the outfield up a bit for the bottom of the third. Celestino moved into center field shifting Gordon to left and Kirilloff to right for the remainder of the game. The outfield did not have to move at all after shifting positions as Gray retired all three Tigers in order without a ball hit outside the infield. Gray’s perfect streak would end in the bottom of the fourth when he hit Javier Baez with a pitch. Baez would score the Tigers first run of the game on an RBI single from catcher Eric Haase. Even with the hiccup of three base runners in the fourth, Gray would avoid any more damage and keep the Twins lead at 3-1. Gray would keep the Tigers bats quiet once again in the fifth and sixth innings. The Twins bats would have another go around with the Tigers bullpen in the top of the seventh as they scored three more runs against them. The three runs were produced by an Urshela double that scored Miranda, Arraez RBI single, and another Polanco double, making it his second multi-double game of the season. Polanco’s only other multi-double game of 2022 was on May 1 against Tampa Bay in a 9-3 Twins win. Gray was done for the afternoon following the sixth inning, allowing only four base runners through those six innings of work. This was Gray’s first start allowing four base runners or less since June 15 in Seattle where he allowed only three base runners on 3 hits in five innings against the Mariners. Griffin Jax came into the game in the seventh, making his first relief appearance since July 16. Although he gave up a lead-off double, Jax retired the next three in order giving the Twins a scoreless inning in his first outing for the second half. Going into the top of the eighth, the Twins held a healthy 6-1 lead over the Tigers. The Twins batters thought a couple more runs wouldn’t hurt to add on. Miranda and Urshela reached base once again to give Gary Sanchez an opportunity to tack more runs on. And add to the lead he did as Sanchez smacked an RBI double scoring both teammates to make it a 8-1, Twins lead. Jharel Cotton had the bottom of the eighth for the Twins. Cotton made his first career appearance against the Tigers this afternoon and looked as if he had a home run surrendered to rookie Riley Greene. Greene would never see that ball land over the fence as Gordon robbed him of his third career home run. The Twins would lead off the top of the ninth with back-to-back singles from Celestino and Kirilloff. Gordon would ground out into a double play in the next at-bat, but Miranda would follow up with another hit, his third of the day, and an RBI, scoring Celestino and making it a 9-1 lead. The ninth would go to Joe Smith to close out the win for the Twins. With great struggles in July posting a 34.62 FIP in two relief appearances for the month. An appearance with an 8 run lead against the worst offense in baseball seemed a safe time to put Smith in. Smith would retire the minimum on 16 pitches to give the Twins their 9-1 win. What’s Next? The Twins are off on Monday and will resume play Tuesday in Milwaukee for another two-game series against the Brewers. Dylan Bundy will make the start for the Twins while the Brewers have yet to announce a starter for Tuesday. Postgame Interview (Bally Sports Tweets) Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

What started out as a pitcher's duel turned into an ugly loss and series loss to the White Sox. The Twins enter the All-Star Break 50-44, still leading the AL Central by two games over Cleveland but certainly showed they need a break to rest and recuperate after Sunday’s brutal loss. Box Score SP: Chris Archer (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (68 pitches, 42 strikes (61.8 strike %)) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Tyler Duffey -.120, Jose Miranda, -.065, Luis Arraez -.060 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Archer looked as good as ever during his first inning of work for the Twins on Sunday. Archer struck out the first two batters of the game, only giving up a hit to Andrew Vaughn and getting Jose Abreu to ground out in the next at-bat. The Twins bats did not get anything going in the bottom of the first even as Byron Buxton was announced as an All-Star starter in replacement of Mike Trout and his injury. Buxton himself struck out to end the inning while he remained unaware of the news. Archer continued to dominate through the next two innings for the Twins retiring seven straight. He totaled 38 pitches through the first three innings of the game keeping a pace to give the Twins bullpen much-needed rest. The Twins bats couldn’t keep up with Archer’s dominance on the mound as White Sox starter Dylan Cease no-hit the Twins through the first three innings, only allowing one base runner on a Jorge Polanco walk. The top of the fourth saw Archer allow just his second base runner of the game on an Abreu two-out base hit that ended up going nowhere as Archer struck out Gavin Sheets to end the inning. Archer ran into trouble against the White Sox in the top of the fifth with two outs on three pitches. Archer walked catcher Seby Zavala and gave up a single to Adam Engel in the next at-bat. Both runners were able to score on an error by Nick Gordon in left field recovering the ball. Zavala and Engel would go on to score in the next at-bat as Tim Anderson had a two-RBI single. What was looking to be the first time all season Archer could go into the sixth inning was shut down by Yoan Moncada as he hit a ground-rule double, tallying Archer’s to 68 and 16 since he recorded the second out in the fifth. Tyler Duffey was called upon from the bullpen to get the Twins out of the fifth. Duffey gave up another RBI double in the first at-bat to Vaughn but was able to get out of the troubling inning by retiring Abreu on a 6-4 ground out. What began as a pitchers duel in the fifth ended in a clear lead for the Sox as they were now up 4-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. Cease continued his no-hit bid in the bottom of the fifth getting Kepler on a ground out back to him to start the inning. He then walked Polanco again and gave up the first Twins hit of the afternoon to Alex Kirilloff in the next at-bat. Neither Polanco or Kirilloff would make their way home to score as Cease struck out the final two batters of the inning to get out of the jam. Caleb Thielbar was on the mound for the Twins in the sixth and allowed only one base runner on a Josh Harrison single but kept him from advancing any further. The Twins could not get anything going again in the sixth as Cease was on a crusade to prove he should be in Los Angeles Tuesday for the All-Star Game. Even if he wouldn’t be able to pitch in the game. Joe Smith was next from the Twins bullpen for the 7th inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Engel and retired Anderson on a ground out. But what followed were back-to-back home runs to Moncada and Vaughn to put the Sox up 7-0. Then it was an Abreu single and a team conference on the mound with the infield for Smith. The mound visit with the infield seemed to have little help as Smith walked Sheets next and well, Smith wanted to quickly forget what happened next. Another home run, this time a three-run shot to Josh Harrison that traveled to left field put the White Sox up 10-0. The home run removed Smith from the game and was the third he gave up in the inning, only managing to retire one batter in the seventh. A bit of good did come for the Twins to start the top of the 8th. Caleb Hamilton, who was called up from St. Paul on Friday as Ryan Jeffers was put on the IL, made his MLB debut as a defensive sub for Gary Sanchez at catcher. Hamilton caught Jharel Cotton for the eighth. Cotton’s inning was a continuing example of how worn out this Twins pitching staff has been since the start of June. Cotton surrendered a leadoff double to Reese McGuire, who pinch hit for Tim Anderson, and walked Vaughn who reached base for the fourth time in the game. It took Cotton 32 pitches to retire three outs in the eighth. The upside for Cotton and the entire Twins pen today? They are all off until next Saturday. The eighth ended on a nice snagging catch from Gilberto Celestino in center, who came into the game as Buxton departed for Los Angeles to start in the All Star Game Tuesday. The Twins caught their first break of the day in the bottom of the eighth. Miranda drew a one-out walk from Joe Kelly and what looked to be a fielder's choice that got Miranda out at second and Gordon safe at first. Was eventually overturned to be a FC, E6 as Garcia, now at short, never touched second base. This brought up Caleb Hamilton for his first MLB at-bat with two runners on and no one out, and Hamilton hit into another fielder's choice, but at least moved the runners into scoring position with two out for Arraez. Unfortunately, no one scored as Arraez grounded out to second to end the inning. The ninth was another relief appearance from Emilio Pagan who gave up one more run to the Sox. Kyle Garlick got a hit in his only at-bat of the game but did not score as White Sox reliever Jose Ruiz retired the final three batters to end the game. What’s Next? The Twins go into the All Star Break and are off until Saturday, July 23 for a quick two-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Joe Ryan is likely to get the start as the Twins turn to a four man rotation of Ryan, Gray, Bundy and Archer to finish out the month of July and start the second half. First pitch for Saturday’s game is at 5:10 p.m. CT. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Sheet View full article