March 3, 2021

Braves blank Twins, Thorpe looks sharp in debut

The Twins fell to 2-1 on the young start to exhibition play after the Atlanta Braves shut out the club 6-0 on Tuesday.

It appears that Twins manager, Rocco Baldelli, went with youth on the mound and they didn’t fare so well, allowing 11 hits, including four extra-base hits, over seven innings. Braves pitching, meanwhile, allowed only five hits while striking out eight.

Max Kepler, Byron Buxton and Willians Astudillo had three of the Twins’ five hits.

Monday was a better showing for the Twins. Australian lefty Lewis Thorpe pitched two scoreless innings and the offense did enough for the 6-5 win.

Twins rookie Brent Rooker hit a home run, waiver wire pickup, Kyle Garlick, also went deep and veteran infielder, Andrew Romine, had two hits. Romine played at shortstop, potentially adding more depth at the position for the Twins. Jake Cave also doubled.

Thorpe struck out two over two innings. Reliever Luke Farrell, the youngest son of former Boston Red Sox manager, John Farrell, struck out the side in the fifth.

The win, however, went to newcomer, Shaun Anderson, and the save to Griffin Jax.

Extra innings…

-Jose Berrios gets the ball Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox.

-The Twins on Monday scored the six runs on seven hits. Luis Arraez also had an RBI single.

-The Twins rallied from a 5-2 deficit by scoring four runs in the top of the fifth.

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.