September 21, 2023

Here comes the rooster: Twins rally for 5-3 win, slash magic number to 1

The Twins on Wednesday withstood a 14-strikeout effort from Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene and then they went to work, down 2-0 through six innings.

The Hahn/Cock sculpture, Walker Art Center, downtown Minneapolis.

They scored a run in the seventh inning, a run in the eighth and then three runs in the ninth, in part because the Twins put runners in scoring position with a rare double steal. The Reds then made a mistake.

They decided to walk Ryan Jeffers to face the Twins’ switch hitter Jorge Polanco, who got the chance to hit from the right side, his natural side, according to radio play-by-play voice Cory Provus. Polanco promptly banged a single through the infield and both runs scored to give the Twins a 5-3 win.

The win, combined with another Cleveland Guardians loss (the Guards were swept by the never-say-die Kansas City Royals), reduced the Twins magic number to one. The Twins are off today (Thursday) but can still clinch the division if both the Guards and Detroit Tigers lose Thursday night.

The Twins are 81-72 and have a nine-game lead on the Guards. The team is back in action and back home Friday to face the Angels. Pablo Lopez gets the ball.

Extra innings …

-Carlos Correa has landed on the 10-day injured list with foot pain, something he apparently has been dealing with all season, caused by plantar fasciitis.

-The Reds’ Christian Encarnacion-Strand, another former Twins prospect who was sent to Cincinnati in exchange for starting pitcher Tyler Mahle (currently sidelined by Tommy John surgery), homered in Wednesday’s game, his ninth.

-On Sept. 21, 1963, Harmon Killebrew hit four home runs in a doubleheader versus the Boston Red Sox.

The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune lede:

“Harmon Killebrew of the Twins hit four home runs Saturday — three in the first game and one in the second — to take the American League lead from Boston’s Dick Stuart, 44-42.”

The Boston Globe lede:

“The Red Sox split with the Minnesota Twins, losing the first game, 13 to 4, and winning the second, 11 to 2, at Fenway Park Saturday afternoon with 11 home runs flying through the raw air. Too bad these men are getting so weary.”

Advantage: Boston Globe.

Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com.

September 20, 2023

Magic number falls to 3 with Twins win, Guardians loss

The Twins inched closer to a division title on Tuesday with a 7-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds and a Cleveland Guardians loss to those never-quit Kansas City Royals. The Twins are now 80-72. They have an eight-game lead on the Guards with 10 games left in the regular season. Minnesota dropped Game 1 to... Continue Reading »

September 19, 2023

Twins lose to Spencer Steer and the Reds

The Twins lost to the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 on Monday. It won’t derail the Twins’ chances of winning the AL Central because the Cleveland Guardians lost Monday as well, but the game did act as one big reminder about what might have been. That’s because rookie Spencer Steer, who once was a member of the... Continue Reading »

September 18, 2023

Twins take 3 of 4 games from White Sox

Rookie Eddie Julien hit a three-run homer, Jorge Polanco added a solo blast and the Twins took the series from the Chicago White Sox on Sunday and won nine of 13 contests versus the South Siders this season. The four runs is all the Twins needed because three pitchers blanked the Pale Hose on six... Continue Reading »

September 17, 2023

Twins make it interesting, still lose to White Sox 7-6

I guess the Chicago White Sox are tired of losing to the Twins. After being blown out in back to back games, the Sox wasted no time in getting their act together, scoring five runs in the first inning and ultimately held on for the 7-6 win Saturday. Twins starter Pablo Lopez was not his... Continue Reading »

September 16, 2023

Where would the Twins be without their rookies?

The Twins have outscored the woeful Chicago White Sox 20-4 over the past two games, and you can thank a handful of rookies who continue to deliver for this team. And nobody has been bigger than Royce Lewis, who hit another grand slam in the Twins’ 10-2 win on Friday. It was his fourth grand... Continue Reading »

September 13, 2023

Twins snap 4-game losing streak to Rays with 3-2 win

The Twins finally beat the Tampa Bay Rays this season, getting a 3-2 win over the Florida club Tuesday night after being swept by them in early June and dropping Monday’s game 7-4. The win was a product of a much improved effort from the Twins bullpen. Starter Joe Ryan was not sharp, tossing 102... Continue Reading »

September 11, 2023

Lopez strikes out 14, but it’s the Twins who are shutout

Twins pitcher Pablo Lopez made his best start of the season on Sunday. He went eight innings, he allowed only two hits, he didn’t walk a single batter and he struck out 14 New York Mets. And yet he didn’t figure in the decision because after 106 pitches he exited the scoreless game in favor... Continue Reading »

September 7, 2023

The lead is still 6 games, Twins fans. Will it be enough?

The Twins lost 2-1 on Wednesday to the Cleveland Guardians, but no matter because the Twins won the series over their nearest rival and played well during a key stretch of games to maintain a healthy lead in the AL Central. After the Twins were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in a short, two-game series... Continue Reading »

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Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.