October 31, 2016

If only the Twins’ Kurt Suzuki played for the Cleveland Indians

There have been plenty of facts and figures bandied about this postseason and World Series, but how about what we learned Sunday night during Game 5?

As Cleveland dug in against the Chicago Cubs’ flame-throwing, Aroldis Chapman, Fox broadcaster Joe Buck let it be known that the last person to hit a home run off him was none other than Kurt Suzuki. That’s right. The Twins’ catcher took Chapman deep on June 18 at Target Field when he was still a member of the New York Yankees. But Buck forgot to mention the other member of the Twins who accomplished the same feat during the same game.

Before Suzuki connected on his 9th inning, pinch-hit home run, Eduardo Escobar also hit a solo shot off him the same inning. And those were the only home runs surrendered by Chapman all season, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Despite the late-inning power, the Twins, as they are wont to do against the Yanks, fell short and lost 7-6, despite leading 4-0 for six innings. The Twins’ bullpen gave up seven runs the rest of the way. It was that kind of season for the Twins.

Extra innings…

-The Cubs won 3-2 Sunday night to force Game 6 and a trip back to Cleveland. This means that Derek Falvey’s introduction to Twins media and fans will be delayed a bit longer. Falvey, who was hired to be the Twins’ chief baseball officer at the beginning of October, has continued his duties as assistant general manager for the Indians during their postseason run. Another name the Twins need to announce is that of Thad Levine, who is thought to be the Twins’ new general manager.

 

 

 

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.