September 6, 2021

Twins avoid the sweep, snap 4-game losing streak with win at Tampa

Rookie second baseman, Nick Gordon, was the big man on campus Sunday, collecting three hits and driving in two runs to help the Twins edge the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5.

The Twins took an early lead, fell behind late, but kept on hitting to secure the win. In all, the Twins banged out 13 hits. Five Twins had two or more hits in the game, including Gordon, Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson.

The pitching win went to reliever Tyler Duffey and the save to Alex Colome, his 11th, although it was very much a Colome-like save because he allowed two hits and walked a batter to make things interesting.

The Twins now head to Cleveland. Bailey Ober gets the ball Monday.

Extra innings…

-Believe it or not, the Twins are now 23-18 in one-run games after they were 15-17 in early August. This has been such a strange season. The Twins aren’t terrible, but they also aren’t very good, which equals… what? Blah, I guess.

-The Twins do not have a favorable September schedule. They play four games at Cleveland and then come home to play three more against the Royals, and then things get really interesting. They have a makeup game in New York on a Monday, then come home to play three more games against Cleveland, including a doubleheader on Tuesday. Then they are back on the road to play the Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs, followed by seven games at home against the Blue Jays and Tigers. The season ends in early October in Kansas City.

-The Andrew Albers feel-good show ended quickly against Tampa on Saturday. Lefty Albers, who had pitched well for the Twins since making his first major league appearance in four years, got roughed up by the Rays. Albers allowed nine runs, all earned, on 10 hits over three innings, including four home runs. He fell to 1-1 on the season, and his earned run average, which had been under 1.00, ballooned to 7.30.

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.