The Twins fell to 4-1 on the season against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday after the Athletics pulled away in the seventh inning for a 5-2 win.
Dylan Bundy was back on the mound after he was sidelined by COVID-19, although he was pulled after only three innings and 54 pitches in favor of Josh Winder. Unfortunately, Winder had another sub-par outing, allowing five runs on nine hits over three-plus innings.
The Twins won 3-1 on Monday and go for the series win on Wednesday. Sonny Gray gets the ball.
Extra innings…
-So what will the Twins do with No. 1 prospect and shortstop Royce Lewis once Carlos Correa returns from the injured list? I guess it’s a nice problem to have because Lewis has played well in Correa’s absence. He’s hitting better than .300 after he doubled and homered in Tuesday’s loss.
-Catcher Gary Sanchez also continues to show off the value of his bat. He homered again on Tuesday and also has a team-leading 10 doubles, one better than Oregon State man Trevor Larnach, who is close to returning to the lineup from the injured list.
-On May 18, 1969, the Twins’ Rod Carew stole second base, third and home in an 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Despite the trifecta of steals, Twins manager Billy Martin was not a happy camper, according to the Minneapolis Tribune.
“We’re hurting ourselves by making too many physical and mental mistakes,” Martin told the paper. “Until we tighten up we’re in trouble.
We’re letting men get on base who shouldn’t and we’re playing sloppy baseball by letting men take extra bases. Sure, the pitching hasn’t been what we thought it would, but we still have to admit we’re beating ourselves.”
The Twins were 12-12 in May 1969, but they would go on to win the AL West division by nine games. The Tigers on the other hand finished 19 games behind the AL East-winning Baltimore Orioles.
The Twins’ 8-2 loss to the Tigers appeared in the May 19 edition of the Tribune, as did the byline of a young Molly Ivins.
In a story headlined “Plea made for study of peace,” Ivins wrote about Michael Schon, chairman of California’s Peace and Freedom Party, who was in Minneapolis on a speaking engagement, including at the University of Minnesota.
Said Schon:
“We have colleges dedicated to the pursuit of war. Why not reverse the process? Why not set people to studying peace?”
-Wow. And now I check social media and I’m a bit shocked to see that the Twins plan to activate Correa and send Lewis to Triple-A St. Paul.
#MNTwins say Royce Lewis will not only play shortstop at Triple-A but is expected to get time at other spots.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) May 18, 2022
“Expected to get time at other spots.” It appears the Twins are trying to figure out how to keep both Correa and Lewis on the field and in the lineup.
Source: Newspapers.com