Old friend Robbie Grossman forced extra innings on Monday after he hit a two-run home run off long-suffering Twins reliever, Alex Colome, to tie the game at 5-5.
But in the bottom of the 10th, Andrelton Simmons earned a free pass to first base, pitcher Kenta Maeda, of all people, replaced him as a pinch runner, then Max Kepler hit an RBI single to score Maeda from first base for the 6-5 walk-off win.
Colome was tagged with the blown save and the win went to reliever Caleb Thielbar. Michael Pineda got the start and it was a quality one as he allowed only two runs over six innings with no walks and six strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.86.
Big Mike was backed by two long home runs. Brent Rooker hit another upper deck dinger and Josh Donaldson hit his 16th to straightaway center field. The Twins scored the six runs on 11 hits, including a pair of Mitch Garver doubles.
Kenta Maeda gets the ball Tuesday.
Extra innings…
-Not only are the Twins now 8-5 this season against Motown, they also improved to a much more respectable 7-9 in extra innings.
-Reliever Taylor Rogers exited the game with a finger sprain, perhaps scuttling any trade talks involving him.
-Pineda also has been connected to a possible trade prior to July 30. He had some nice things to say about the Twins organization, according to Twins’ MLB.com beat writer Do-Hyoung Park.
Michael Pineda, on the #MNTwins:
"I love the organization. They did a lot of good things for me. I feel like this is my house and I want to stay here. Everybody respects me and I respect everybody. … I feel really good here. It's why I'm not thinking about trades or whatever."
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) July 27, 2021
-I think it’s worth pointing out that a lot of ballplayers over the years have said this about the Twins. It speaks well of the organization.