This game was utterly abysmal and I recommend you read nothing about it, but I’m here to tell you how it went, and it went very very badly.
Joey Wentz was the starter and gave up 10 hits in his three innings of work, his line for the day was 3.0 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR on 71 pitches and he should probably not start any more games this season.
Donovan Solano hit a double to start the first, then a Carlos Correa single scored Solano. Max Kepler singled, then a Ryan Jeffers home run scored three. Willi Castro walked and Jordan Luplow singled, but no additional runs scored. A Matt Vierling single was the sole Tigers’ baserunner.
I’m not going to go into depth with the Tigers half of these innings because -spoiler alert- they scored absolutely no runs until the ninth inning.
Solano and Jorge Polanco singled back-to-back, then a Correa home run brought in three runs. In the bottom half, Kerry Carpenter singled by was eliminated in a double play.
Castro singled to start the third, then Jordan Luplow hit a ground-rule double to send Castro to third. A Michael A. Taylor groundout scored Castro and the Twins were up 8-0. Nick Maton reached on a fielding error in the bottom half of the inning but did not score.
The bottom of the fifth was the next time anyone had a baserunner as Zach McKinstry singled and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He did not score. In the bottom of the sixth Greene singled but did not score.
In the seventh a pinch-hitting Joey Gallo walked and Kyle Farmer got a two-out single, but the Twins were unable to score against Jason Foley. I will say the middle relief in this game was just that, a relief. Brieske, Holton, and Foley were all dialled in. So if you want a GOOD takeaway from this game, watch innings 4-7.
Alex Lange came on in the eighth (woah there, Hinch, bold moves), and he was about as bad in the eighth as he’s been in the ninth, issuing back-to-back walks to Taylor and Solano. Then a two-out walk to Gallo to load the bases. Lange then hit Kepler with a pitch (it nailed him in the toe and then the inner arm, ouuuuch). And that walked in a run. He got out of the inning, but barely. Barely.
In the bottom of the eighth, Greene got a nice double.
Zack Short (yes, Zack Short) was out of the pen in the top of the ninth and had a nice clean inning with the exception of a Luplow single. No runs scored, though. Then he decided to prove he was a two-way superstar hitting a single in the bottom of the ninth. (This after Kerry Carpenter was hit by a pitch). Maton then hit a three-run homer.
At least they weren’t shut out.
Final: Twins 9, Tigers 3