Just when it appeared the eighth inning of Sunday’s game between the Twins and Blue Jays could get no worse, it did.
The normally reliable Griffin Jax, after loading the bases, hit a batter to force in the go-ahead run, the Jays now leading the Twins 2-1. A groundout RBI made it 3-1 and the Twins were well on their way to dropping their fourth consecutive series.
But Minnesota managed to get two runners on in the home half of the eighth, and then Royce Lewis, who has been struggling of late, stepped up to the plate.
As I’ve said before, he just seems like the kind of player built for big moments, and once again he delivered, cracking a three-run homer over the left field wall to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. Closer Jhoan Duran closed out the game for his 20th save and the Twins earned the win and series win before they hit the road. They needed this win badly.
“That eighth inning really brought a lot of oxygen into our room, into our dugout, I think, into the bodies of all of our players,” manager Rocco Baldelli told MLB.com. “Got everybody going.”
Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball Monday in Tampa.
Extra innings…
-The Twins won and the Royals lost, so the Twins have moved into second place by the slimmest of margins, yet both clubs are 3.5 games back of Cleveland because the Guards keep winning. The Boston Red Sox lost again, so they are 4.5 games back of the final wild card spot in the American League.
-Despite Jax’s struggles in the eighth inning, he emerged the winner, raising his record to 4-4 with a 1.96 ERA. Starter Bailey Ober pitched well, but he exited after six innings down 1-0. His line: One run allowed over six innings with three walks and eight strikeouts.
-Ober and Jax combined for five walks which I think says less about them and more about home plate umpire Nic Lentz’s strike zone on Sunday. Listening to the game, both seemed frustrated by the lack of strikes being called.
-The Twins now hit the road for seven games: four at Tampa and three more at Kansas City.
-A little history: On Sept. 2, 1958, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Washington Senators, one of the original charter teams of the American League, were on their way to Minnesota.
The Minneapolis Morning Tribune
“Tuesday awaited the possible coming of major league baseball and, with it, the possible filing of a taxpayer’s suit.
“The Washington Senators were informed immediately when the city board of estimate and taxation unanimously gave final approval yesterday to a nine-million-dollar bond issue for expanding Metropolitan stadium to big league proportions and refinancing original construction costs.
“The Senators now have ‘all the machinery’ necessary to ask the American league’s permission to move their franchise to Minneapolis, said Gerald Moore, chairman of the metropolitan sports area commission.”