The Twins scored two runs on Thursday and four in their loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday.
The sudden lack of run-scoring production can be attributed to the number of players hurt, including Eddie Rosario, who will now spend 10 days on the injured list. He joins Willians Astudillo, Marwin Gonzalez and Byron Buxton, who is expected to rejoin the team soon.
Instead of striking out, slugger Miguel Sano drove in all four runs on Friday after he hit two, two-run home runs. Sano hit his 10th home run of the season in the second inning, followed by his 11th in the ninth but it wasn’t enough and the Twins lost, 6-4.
Once again Jose Berrios pitched a quality start and once again the defense let him down. Berrios went seven-plus innings and allowed six runs, but only three of those runs were earned because of two errors behind him, both of which were committed by Ehire Adrianza. As I’ve said before, unearned runs are killers.
Michael Pineda gets the ball Saturday.
Extra innings…
-Twins rookie outfielder, LaMonte Wade Jr., made an inauspicious major league debut on Friday. In his first at bat, he was hit by a pitch, then was picked off first base and thrown out at second. Ugh. Better luck Saturday, LaMonte.
-The Twins are 52-29 at the halfway mark of the season. What will the second half bring?
-The Twins have an eight-game lead on the Cleveland Indians.
-Sano’s two home runs were a good sign. The Twins are still playing winning baseball, but they’re no longer winning at the pace they set in April and May. It would be great to see Sano step up and carry this team while other players are hurt.
-With Rosario out, the Twins have called up pitcher Lewis Thorpe from Triple-A Rochester.
According to MLB.com:
Thorpe, a 23-year-old southpaw from Melbourne, Australia, was named the Twins’ 2018 Minor League Pitcher of the Year after recording a 3.54 ERA with 157 strikeouts in 129 2/3 innings spanning 26 appearances, including 25 starts, for Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Rochester. He had a 5.71 ERA in 14 starts for the Red Wings this season, with 88 strikeouts and 21 walks in 69 1/3 innings.
-And this…
Fixed: The 1st pitch of LaMonte Wade's big-league career hit him in shoulder, making him 2nd Twins player ever to be hit by pitch in his 1st MLB plate appearance. Brian Dinkelman, now Twins' manager at Class A Cedar Rapids, was hit in his June 4, 2011 debut, also by 1st pitch.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) June 29, 2019