July 23, 2016

Twins beat Red Sox — with pitching

To quote Max Kepler, the Twins “redemptified” themselves in a huge way on Friday after Thursday’s blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox. In that game, the No. 1 offense and No. 15 pitching staff in the American League played their roles to perfection as the Sox banged out 17 hits and scored 13 runs to crush the Twins.

But the Twins righted the ship on Friday with, of all things, pitching. Kyle Gibson easily had his best start of the year, limiting the Red Sox to two hits over eight innings. He gave up a solo shot to Mookie Betts and then pitched a clean slate the rest of the way. Brandon Kintzler recorded his seventh save.

Extra innings…

-Brian Dozier continues to lead the Twins in home runs after he hit his 17th on Friday. The home run was one of three hits for Dozier.

-Miguel Sano also had three hits on Friday, including his 11th double of the season. Hate to mention this, but he also committed his 11th error of the season.

-The Twins turned three double plays, including a game-saving twin killing in the bottom of the ninth.

-Boston’s David Ortiz, who started his MLB career with the Twins, went hitless in four at bats on Friday. That was not the case on Thursday when he had three hits, including his 24th home run, and drove in four runs. In his career against the Twins, Oritz has hit .330 with 91 hits, 22 doubles, 21 home runs and 56 RBIs, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

-Reliever Neil Ramirez, who was claimed off waivers by the Twins earlier this year, has been sent to Triple-A Rochester to make way for Buddy Boshers. Ramirez had struggled, pitching with an ERA of more than 6.00.

-Isn’t it time for Twins’ prospect Jose Berrios to get recalled to the Twins? According to MLB.com, Berrios “gave up one run on three hits in eight frames for Triple-A Rochester and has allowed just one earned run over his last 14 innings. He’s also struck out nine in each of his last two outings.”

-Ricky Nolasco gets the ball on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

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.