After an ugly loss to the New York Mets, and an off day due to snow (of course), the Twins took advantage of some base on balls and strung together enough singles to beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Saturday.
The Twins didn’t have an extra-base hit, but still made the most of five singles and a sacrifice fly to score four runs. The Tigers had twice as many hits, but were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Twins starter Michael Pineda pitched a quality start and improved to 2-0, and the bullpen pitched three innings of scoreless baseball to secure the win.
Jose Berrios gets the ball on Sunday.
Extra innings…
-Why such a low scoring game? It’s still too damn cold. Saturday’s game was 37 degrees, and I’m not sure the Twins have played a home game yet that wasn’t in the 30s. That might change Sunday because the forecast high is 48 degrees.
-Twins pitching issued one walk on Saturday, a much improved state of affairs after the team issued 10 walks on Wednesday in a 9-6 loss to the Mets. The Twins took an early 1-0 lead in that game and then the lack of control contributed to a six-run fifth inning.
-Starter Jake Odorizzi fell to 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA after that loss, and the earned run averages only go up for Martin Perez and Kyle Gibson. Can Berrios and Pineda carry this team while we wait for them to improve? Yes, but not for long.
-Welcome back, Nelson Cruz. Cruz, the designated hitter, found himself without a role in the recent away series against the Mets. On Saturday, he walked twice and struck out twice. I blame the weather.