I wish I was more enthusiastic about the Twins win on Saturday.
The 6-5 win helped even their series with the Kansas City Royals, it’s just that I don’t care about the Twins winning two of three games anymore. The Twins swept the Baltimore Orioles and needed to sweep the Royals to get this season back on track. Instead, they got kicked around pretty good on Friday and barely hung on to win Saturday.
Friday’s 8-3 loss raises more questions about starter Randy Dobnak and reliever Cody Stashak after the Royals teed off on both.
The Twins took the early lead on Saturday, the Royals came back to tie the game, then the Twins pulled ahead and took a 6-3 lead going into the ninth inning, only to see Taylor Rogers give up a home run. He ultimately closed out the game for his fourth save. Up until Hansel Robles and Rogers entered the game, the bullpen looked pretty sharp.
Jorge Alcala pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Tyler Duffey struck out the side in the seventh on 13 pitches.
Starter J.A. Happ wasn’t as dominant as his last start, but he still struck out five over five innings, allowing two runs on three hits, including a home run. Happ improved to 3-2 but his ERA remains elevated at 5.24.
Matt Shoemaker gets the ball on Sunday. They need another quality start from him.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 21-30.
-The Twins on Saturday scored six runs on nine hits, including two more from red-hot journeyman, Rob Refsnyder, who is hitting better than .380. Oregon State man Trevor Larnach also homered again to deep center field.
-Widely reported on Saturday was this: Josh Donaldson scored the 2 millionth run in major league history. That’s a nice moment for Donaldson, the Twins and major league baseball, but the “bringer of rain” also went 1-for-5 on Saturday and was 0-for-5 on Friday. I’m waiting on the rain, Donaldson.
-The Twins beat old friend Ervin Santana, who fell to 0-1 on the season. Santana spent four seasons with the Twins, including 2017 in which he went 16-8 with a 3.28 ERA.