Is it any wonder the Twins are losing when so many of their players are hurt? Here’s the injured list: Caleb Thielbar, Max Kepler, Mitch Garver, Byron Buxton, Rob Refsnyder, Kenta Maeda, Luis Arraez and Devin Smeltzer.
And when you have that many injured players you call up rookie prospects to fill those holes, and although it’s exciting to see how young players will perform, mistakes will be made.
A big mistake cost the Twins on Thursday.
After Josh Donaldson homered to tie the game at 5-5, rookie center fielder Gilberto Celestino goofed on a fly ball, then overthrew the cut off man which allowed an unearned run to score to make it 6-5, Kansas City.
It’s now the third loss in a row for the Twins after they lost two of three games to the Baltimore Orioles. Reliever Hansel Robles was the pitcher of record for the unearned run and he took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season. He appeared to be none too happy about it.
Matt Shoemaker gets the ball on Friday.
Extra innings…
-Starter J.A. Happ allowed three home runs in Thursday’s loss.
-The Twins are now 22-34, last place in the AL Central.
-You can stick a fork in starter Randy Dobnak and reliever Alex Colome. I just don’t see them improving.
-Four rookies were in the lineup on Thursday and five on Wednesday.
-Despite the loss, Josh Donaldson had a great game, hitting two home runs and a double. Jorge Polanco also had three hits. They accounted for six of the Twins’ nine hits.
-Reliever Mike Marshall, who pitched most notably for the Dodgers and later the Twins, died Monday. He was 78. He was the first reliever to win a Cy Young award in 1974 after he appeared in 106 games, pitched more than 200 innings, recorded 21 saves and won 15 games. He also appeared in 90 games for the Twins in 1979 and notched 32 saves, a career high.
-What’s significant about June 2? On that date in 1925, the Yankees’ Lou Gehrig appeared in his first game for the pinstripers. On June 2, 1941, he died of the disease that was named for him, according to Baseball-Reference.com. RIP, Lou.