After two near misses to start the season, the 0-2 Twins made Game 3 a laugher, hitting six home runs, including a grand slam, to win 10-4 over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. The Twins now have a chance to even the series on Monday.
Monstruoso.#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/0Cw1BJmsux
— Twins Brasil 🇧🇷⚾ (@TwinsBrasil) April 10, 2022
As expected, these Twins are going to hit and they didn’t disappoint. Carlos Correa, Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco all homered, but the real damage was done by Byron Buxton and Ex-Yankee Gary Sanchez. Buck smashed two dingers and Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a double and grand slam, driving in five runs.
Everyone had a hit in the Twins lineup, save for Miguel Sano and Alex Kirilloff. Both are still looking for their first hits of the season.
On the mound, the Twins got five innings out of Bailey Ober who did just enough to get the win, allowing four runs, all earned, with two walks and four strikeouts. He also served up a home run.
Starting pitching so far has been limited to around 70 pitches, likely because pitchers aren’t fully stretched out due to fewer spring training games.
Dylan Bundy gets the ball on Monday, the Twins’ first night game.
Extra innings…
-Newly acquired reliever Emilio Pagan made an appearance on Sunday, striking out two in an inning of work. He threw 11 pitches, eight of them for strikes.
-Former Twin Nelson Cruz, now with the Washington Nationals, hit the 450th home run of his career on Sunday in a 4-2 win over the Mets.
-On April 9, 1995, former Twins outfielder Bob Allison died from a form of ataxia, a neurological disease. He was 60, which is much too young.
Allison, like Harmon Killebrew, started his big league career with the Washington Senators. He was Rookie of the Year in 1959 and later played for the Twins, 1961-70. He hit 256 home runs, was a three-time all-star and drove in 100 or more runs twice in his career.
“He was a wonderful person and a tough, tough ballplayer,” said Tony Oliva to the Star Tribune for a news obit published April 11, 1995. “I know I would not want to be a second baseman or shortstop when he was running the bases because he’d run right over you.”
The most famous outfield catch of all time is widely thought to be Willie Mays’ over the shoulder miracle during the 1954 World Series, but Allison’s own World Series catch is right up there with the best of them.
In Game 2 of the 1965 series between the Twins and Dodgers, Allison made a diving, backhand stab in left field at the Met to take a hit away from Jim Lefebvre and forced Ron Fairly to retreat to first base.
Source: Newspapers.com