July 13, 2018

Kyle Gibson pitches one of his best games of the season to beat Rays

Other than the no-decision 1-hitter against the New York Yankees in April, Kyle Gibson’s start Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays has to be one of his best outings of the season.

Gibson struck out nine over eight innings and held the Rays to just one run. He also scattered five hits and didn’t walk a batter to improve to 4-6 with a 3.42 ERA. Reliever Ryan Pressly got one out, then Fernando Rodney got the next two outs to earn his 21st save of the season.

The Twins are now 7-1 during this 11-game home stand and they picked up a game on the Cleveland Indians after the Tribe fell to the Yanks, 7-4, on Thursday. The Twins are 7.5 games back of the Tribe with a lot of baseball still to be played. I like what I’m seeing, and I’m beginning to think that the Twins are going to pull this off and dethrone the Indians.

Offensively, the Twins scored their five runs on seven hits. Eddie Rosario hit his 19th home run and Robbie Grossman and Jorge Polanco both hit doubles to chase Blake Snell, who lasted all of three innings.

Jake Odorizzi gets the ball Friday.

Extra innings…

-Thursday’s game was delayed two hours by rain.

-Logan Morrison has landed on the disabled list with a left hip injury, according to MLB.com. I hate to say it, but I doubt the Twins are going to miss him.

 

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.