Twins rookie Fernando Romero, who made an impressive major league debut last week, took it a step further Monday after he silenced 40,000 fans at Busch Stadium by striking out nine over six innings. The team backed him with 11 hits and the Twins cruised to a 6-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
First time in 30 meetings all-time (including 1987 World Series) that Twins have shut out Cardinals.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) May 8, 2018
Suddenly, things are looking up for the Twins. The club won its fourth straight Monday night and is now 6-4 in its last 10 games and has moved back into second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games out of first place. Despite the injuries to three key players — Ervin Santana, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton — this team is finding ways to win. The improved hitting of Eduardo Escobar and Eddie Rosario has been a big part of their success of late, especially Rosario, who is hitting .452 with four home runs and 13 RBI in the past seven games.
But the real star Monday was Romero. He scattered three hits over six innings and struck out nine with three walks. He has yet to give up a run and improved to 2-0. With Santana’s return delayed, Romero’s early success for the Twins has been huge.
Jake Odorizzi gets the ball Tuesday in the finale of the two-game series with the Cardinals.
Extra innings…
-Max Kepler, Robbie Grossman and Rosario had seven of the Twins’ 11 hits on Monday.
-The Twins wrap up their series with the Cardinals on Tuesday, get Wednesday off, then hit the road to take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Shohei Ohtani.
-Cardinals’ fans are serious baseball fans. Even on a Monday night — a school night and the beginning of the work week — more than 40,000 fans attended the game.
-In October 1987, the Twins won their first World Series by beating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, 4-3. In Game 7, Frank “Sweet Music” Viola struck out seven over eight innings and held the Cardinals to just two runs. Dan Gladden, Greg Gagne and Kirby Puckett provided the offense for the Twins and the team won 4-2 before 55,000 at the Metrodome. Viola was named World Series MVP.