We were among the 15,256 freezing fans who attended Target Field on Saturday night, all of us bundled up to watch a lackluster effort from the Twins as they lost 7-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays.
In all honesty, I’m not sure how anyone scored at all, or swung the bat or threw the ball or somehow managed to run to first base because it was that cold. The official temperature, according to the box score, was 39 degrees, but the official wind speed was 14 miles per hour, which certainly made it that much colder.
It was the Mick Abel show on Saturday, and it was his game to win or lose because the offense backed him with one run on three hits. He wasn’t up to the task and allowed four runs on six hits across four innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
The walks didn’t help (they never do) and he hit two batters, one of which forced in a run. Abel, who pitched well during spring training, hasn’t so far shown up for the regular season. Another rough outing from him and I’m going to have visions of Zebby Matthews riding the Green Line from Saint Paul to Target Field.
Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball on Sunday.
Extra innings…
–Shoutout to the stadium ushers on Saturday who suggested that my son, who prefers to wear shorts no matter how cold it is, pick up a blanket at guest services. So that’s what we did: all we had to do was show some ID and return the blanket after the game, but in between he was much warmer and grateful to be wrapped up as we sat in the 300 level and braved the wind.
–Another shoutout: we had good seats — there really isn’t a bad seat at Target Field — but another usher pointed out a great area to take photos of the field, directly above and behind home plate. He was right: very picturesque.
–After freezing for nine innings, the warmth of the Green Line felt great.