I say we call him, “The Dobber.”
Randy Dobnak, he of the handlebar mustache who signed as a free agent with the Twins in 2017, got the ball on Friday and gave the Twins five-plus innings of three-hit baseball. The Twins scored first, then held on to win 4-3 over the Kansas City Royals. The win reduces their magic number to six. Cleveland also won on Friday so the two teams remain separated by four games.
Dobnak, who has primarily been used out of the bullpen, improved to 1-1 with a 2.01 ERA.
If the Dobber can continue to pitch like this, it will be a huge boon to a Twins team that finds its starting rotation in disarray. Michael Pineda is gone, Kyle Gibson might still be battling health problems and Martin Perez can’t put together consistent starts. That leaves Jake Odorizzi and Jose Berrios as the most reliable starters. Throw in spot starters or long relief in the form of Devin Smeltzer and Lewis Thorpe and you have a staff that might get you to the regular-season finish line, but a deep run in the postseason? I don’t like the looks of it.
Berrios gets the ball on Saturday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 95-59.
-The Detroit Tigers are done playing the Indians this season and it wasn’t pretty. The terrible Tigers were shut out by the Tribe on Thursday and lost for the 17th consecutive time. Motown finished its season series against the Indians at 1-18.
“It’s not easy getting knocked around,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told The Detroit News. “You just have to keep getting back up.”
Poor, Gardy. The Tigers are 45-108.
-If you get the chance, please check out Steve Rushin’s Sports Illustrated piece on the history of Twins/Yankees and why the Twins have been so cursed when it comes to playing the Bronx Bombers.
-Reliever Trevor May struck out the side in the ninth.