The Twins’ Simeon Woods Richardson made one of the better starts of his young career on Saturday, allowing just two runs across seven innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
He made just two mistakes: two solo home runs — one in the first inning and one in the sixth — and that was the difference as the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 2-1 win to take Game 3 of the four-game series.
Minnesota had no answer for Guardians pitching because they limited the Twins to one extra-base hit as well as an 0-for-5 performance with runners in scoring position.
David Festa, the Slim Reaper, gets the ball Sunday.
Extra innings…
-With the loss, the Twins fall 2.5 games back of the Guards at 65-51, but remain a game up on the Kansas City Royals in the division.
-Speaking of the Royals, that’s who the Twins face next after the Guards leave town. It doesn’t necessarily get any easier for Minnesota because they will have to tangle with Bobby Witt Jr., who is having a ridiculous, all-universe kind of season. Get a load of these numbers: Witt is hitting .347 with 164 hits, 100 runs scored, 87 RBI and 22 home runs. Good luck pitching around that guy.
-I listened to the Twins game on Saturday, but I also watched Game 7 of the 1965 World Series on You Tube. If you’re a Twins fan, you know the result: the immortal Sandy Koufax goes the distance, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts in the 2-0 series-clinching win.
The Los Angeles Times
“It isn’t often a man can win the World Series deciding game with only a fast ball, but that’s exactly what Sandy Koufax did at the expense of the power-laden Twins here Thursday.”
“It can’t be done unless you are exceptional,” praised John Roseboro who was catching him, “and Sandy is the most exceptional pitcher in the game today.”
“I didn’t have a curve ban at all,” explained the great southpaw after he had held Minnesota to three hits and shut them out, 2-0. “When I threw it I couldn’t get it over. And those first few innings I really didn’t know how long I was going to last.”
The Minneapolis Tribune
“It took the greatest pitcher in baseball, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to beat the Minnesota Twins, 2 to 0, in the seventh and final game of the World Series Thursday in Metropolitan Stadium.”
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com