After an embarrassing Game 1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the worst team in baseball, the Twins won back-to-back games over Motor City, including Sunday’s 7-4 victory, to earn the series win and extend their lead in the AL Central to 3.5 games.
They picked up a game on the Cleveland Indians after the Tribe launched a furious rally to tie the Kansas City Royals at 8-8 in the ninth inning, only to see the Indians give up a solo shot in the top of the tenth and lose 9-8 on Sunday.
Meanwhile, ask and you shall receive. I was hoping for the Twins’ Martin Perez to break a recent streak of so-so outings from the starting rotation and he delivered a quality start to improve to 9-5.
Keep calm, El De Las Matas is here!💥 I’m excited and thankful with my 9th W of the season. Always with confidence, persistence and positivism to achieve these amazing moments. Thank to all for the supoort💪🏻🔝#MNTwins… https://t.co/Qb7sQDRjr2
— Martin Perez (@MartinPerez33D) August 25, 2019
The Tigers out-hit the Twins in every game of this series, which is disconcerting for the starting rotation, but when you have as much power as the Twins, you also don’t need as many hits. The Twins scored seven runs on five hits, getting a three-run home run from C.J. Cron and a two-run jolt off the bat of Jonathan Schoop.
The Twins are back on the road Tuesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. Michael Pineda, the Twins’ best pitcher of late, gets the ball. However, he has to face Lucas Giolito, who carved up the Twins in his last start with a complete game, three-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts. Still, the Twins have been road warriors. They are 18 games over .500 away from Target Field.
Extra innings…
-The Tigers officially are 50 games under .500 at 39-89.
-Byron Buxton and Willians Astudillo are set to rejoin the team, but perhaps the most enticing potential development is if the Twins call up their secret weapon: Brusdar Graterol, a right-handed pitcher who throws 100 miles per hour. He is one of the Twins’ top prospects who also was recently promoted to Triple-A Rochester.
According to MLB Trade Rumors:
The promotion of Graterol, a husky 20 year-old righty from Venezuela, will generate the most attention. A top 100 prospect at Fangraphs, Baseball America and MLB Pipleline, Graterol pitched well in 11 games with Double-A Pensacola. The organization surely hopes he can emerge as an above-average starter long-term, but it isn’t hard to imagine him contributing in the bigs in short stints imminently thanks to his plus three-pitch arsenal.
At Double-A Pensacola, he was 6-0 with a 1.71 ERA.
By this time next week, the Twins might have Buxton, Astudillo, Graterol, and Hildenberger on the roster, among others. Those are potentially SERIOUS reinforcements for September.
— Nick Nelson (@NickNelsonMN) August 25, 2019